About Team 5
by kyokki
Summary: Team five became genin during Naruto's three year training trip. As mixed a group of students as ever there was, follow this trio as they solve the mystery of exactly what happened to their sensei and to reunite her with the ninja she loves.
1. Sensei's Late

Chapter 1: Sensei's Late

Imagine if you will, a bird. There are quite a few sayings about birds, one might say you 'eat like a bird' or have a 'bird-brain' but the phrase we want to focus on at this point is 'a bird's eye view'. Now in actuality a bird's eye view isn't much to think about. In a bird's eye there're things, and things that move, things with sharp teeth that move, and things that rustle and go squeak and are quite tasty if rather a meal on the go. Birds, at least birds of the sort that we are imagining right now, don't pay much attention to anything that _doesn't _squeak and run about making itself a tempting target.

Now our bird's eye has just caught such a movement, and with the large part of its brain that says 'swoop and kill' it dove. Feathery death rained down from above. Nearly. For feathery death became feathery thump as it tried to dive and get the heck out of the way of the sharp whispery thing that nearly divided its tail-feathers whilst causing the meal to get the heck out of the way of feathery thud as it hits the ground.

There was quite a lot of getting the heck out of the way at this point.

Our bird takes a minute of irritable feather rustling to get things back into place, as well as to sooth its injured pride, and heads aloft again. Next time it will choose a different field. So our vision draws back with it, again skyward, and it leaves behind three figures getting smaller by the instant, and the words that trail off as it finds a suitable air current and wings away.

"Sensei's late!"

Let's take our gaze back down and see these figures more clearly.

"I really wish you wouldn't do things like that." Said another, "the poor bird…"

And the bird probably would have agreed, but it was too far away by now, and besides, it wouldn't have understood, anyway.

"I wasn't going to hit it."

"She is correct." Said a third voice. "The trajectory was 10 millimeters off."

"Yes, thank you, Ibitsu." The first voice said peevishly. "We all needed to know the exact measurement."

"Oneesan…" Said the second voice.

"Oh, be quiet, Taihei, and I told you not to call me oneesan, call me oniisan!"

"I'm not going to call you that," Taihei said tiredly. "You're my sister, not my brother. I'm the brother, Toride."

"I'm convinced that was a mistake." Toride said in a manner that said she'd said it many times before.

The three in the field paused to look at each other for a moment. Toride breathing heavily in the way she usually did when she was bored and spoiling for a fight, her fraternal twin brother Taihei smiling slightly in a mildly exasperated way, and Ibitsu watching the both of them with a worried expression on her face.

"Sensei _is _late." She said, hoping to diffuse the situation a bit. She was somewhat shorter than the other two and stood in such a way that she seemed to think made her look even smaller. Put her in a snow bank and she'd nearly be invisible, what with her white hair and pale skin and quiet way of holding herself. Anyone looking at her would immediately peg her as 'painfully shy'.

They would be correct.

Her one sign of a desire to boldness was the red design on her shoes and apron-like dress. When she shifted her weight slightly under the gaze of her teammates the sun glinted wanly off the plate of the Konoha hitai-ate around her neck.

Her visible eye shifted furtively between the two very similar faces of her teammates, it was hard to tell if the other eye did as well, since it was hard to see behind the thick glass that covered it, but we can assume so. She coughed delicately and continued in a small voice. "As Toride-san said."

"Right." Toride agreed, the bubbling of her temper subsiding a bit. "Like I said." She looked up at the sun from her spot sprawled in the shade of one of the posts set into the turf of the training field. She frowned, her blue eyes glinting, and ran her fingers through her spiky mossy green forelock.

Spiky was a good word for Yamanami Toride. She would have approved of it if anyone had said it to her face, well, approved of it from the lofty position of being somewhere above the person who said it, since they would likely be laying on the ground and groaning within a few seconds. But she _would _have approved.

Toride would have said that she had gotten a bum deal from the moment of her birth, and all those years of dealing with said bum deal gave her a temper as sharp as a handful of thorns and hot as magma. It bubbled and seethed and only cooled down after it had destroyed several villages and sent the natives rushing for the hills.

The reason, besides general personality, for this was she was convinced, absolutely convinced, that she was the one who was supposed to be the boy. Maybe, perhaps, her brother also should have been a boy, but she was rather doubtful on that point.

She had no use for all those girly things like makeup and boys and flower arrangement. She had been sick on the days that those classes had been covered, with fatal diseases. It was a miracle she survived, really. No, she didn't think she would like to take advantage of the make-up courses, she was feeling ill again. It was probably something incurable. Just make sure not to put any flowers on her grave, all right?

Toride, watching the sun rise higher in the bright sky, beneath her vast bulwark of hot, spiky anger, felt a little frisson of worry. It was not like sensei to be late.

Observing her from what most people would _not_ consider a safe distance away was her twin brother Yamanami Taihei. Contrary to his sister's belief he was personally convinced that yes, he was supposed to be a boy. No matter that she could spit farther than him and cursed twice as well. Not that Taihei cursed, or spit. He considered that bad manners. But he did know all the words. Just for reference.

Where his sister was spiky, he was more like a river smooth stone. Calm, implacable and not inclined for rushed movement. Anyone who saw the two standing side by side in a calm moment would think that he and his sister were just alike, his features just a bit broader and not as sharp as Toride's. When the moment passed the unwary would find just how unalike they were, and after a few more moments would wonder if they were related at all.

And he nearly always smiled, just this small knowing smile that molded his mouth into a general shape of affability. It was a smile that hinted that he knew things you did not, or worse, hinted that he knew things that you didn't want anyone to know. Even the most hardened characters, if Taihei's smile were turned upon them for even a short time, would wonder in the depths of their tarnished souls how he knew that they had a stamp collection hidden under their beds, or had a weakness for cuddly little kittens, or still looked for animal shapes in the clouds, or missed their dear dead mother so very much.

People had been known to dissolve into tears after a prolonged session with that smile.

Taihei didn't see what the big deal was. He was just a generally content person.

The only time people had to worry was when he stopped smiling. Even his sister stayed out of his way when that happened. A stone is a stone, after all, and when hurled with sufficient force the least you're going to come away with is a nasty bruise.

As Toride returned her brother's gaze she saw his smile fade by half a degree. While not big on accurate trajectory measures she knew the exact specifications of the smile on her brother's face. It was a survival instinct.

The frisson of worry grew.

The sun slipped higher.

They waited.

Taihei looked thoughtfully upwards. "Perhaps she was sent on a mission." He suggested. The other two pondered this slowly, as it was difficult to ponder on eleven-year old stomachs that were just then pointing out how long it had been since breakfast. A mission had possibilities.

When it became clear that neither of the girls was going to answer he shrugged and lapsed back into silence. It was the only explanation he could think of. And yet it did not ring quite right in his head. Sensei had been sent on missions before, and she had always made sure to let them know in one way or another that she was not coming that day.

He brought his gaze back down and glanced between the two girls, who perhaps had, or had not been thinking the same.

"I'm hungry." Toride grumbled.

Taihei smiled.

Ibitsu glanced away. "I'm not leaving until sensei comes." She said, trying to inject an iota of stubbornness into her naturally submissive voice.

Taihei's smile never wavered. "I agree, Ibitsu-san. I'll go get us some bread."

"Curry!" Toride said promptly.

"M-melon, if it's not too much trouble. I mean, maybe I should go and you can rest here. It's a long walk and… Oh! I don't mean to say that you wouldn't be able to. I just think um maybe I would be…"

Taihei let this disjointed speech wash over him, nodding occasionally. When she stammered to a red-faced halt he said. "Curry and melon it is." And vanished before Ibitsu could get started on another protest.

Ibitsu looked down at her hands, which were a rather safer prospect for observation than her genin partner. They fidgeted. When this ceased to be remotely entertaining she switched to watching the sky. But as it was a clear sunny day there was not even a single cloud to imagine being anything other than a large puff of accumulated mist high in the atmosphere. Relentless blue, no matter how much it resembled the color of a robin's egg, wasn't much of a diversion.

"I'm going to get my kunai." Toride grumbled, startling Ibitsu out of her reverie concerning why sky blue didn't really resemble its name. The other genin stood, brushing off the back of her shirt. She strode off purposefully, walking it what she liked to think of as a boy-like manner.

It was a rather swaggering slouch and no matter how hard she tried she could not keep her, distressingly girlish, hips from moving in a distressingly girl-like way. The result of this was a rather awkward looking gait that made her look, although no one would _ever_ say this in case she were listening, as though one leg were markedly longer than the other.

She swaggered across the clearing following her ten-millimeter-off trajectory and in no time at all found her weapon.

What happened next would have severely puzzled anyone who thought they knew her. She relaxed and smiled after taking a moment to minutely examine the grass and finding nothing but a few of the bird feathers that it had left behind in its hurry to be someplace else. She crouched down and rummaged in her pack, pulling out a breakfast roll that she had neglected to tell her brother she had. Breaking off a piece of it, she held it out between thumb and forefinger, saying, "That was close. Be more careful, stupid."

The little creature that rustled and squeaked and had very recently nearly become someone else's breakfast came timidly forward and took the piece of roll out of Toride's fingers with its little paws. "Good boy."

She left the rest of the roll on the ground and stood, sheathing her kunai. Then, as though the interchange had never occurred, she swaggered her way back out into the clearing and back into the company of her tiresomely boring teammate.

Upon arriving back at the training posts she stared down at Ibitsu, who had carefully sat down on the grass in her absence. It took her a moment to recall that it was no fun picking on the other girl, who, in her opinion had about the same amount of backbone as a wet sponge. So instead she took her favored spot in the shade and entertained herself by playing with her kunai. Ibitsu edged diffidently away when she started juggling them.

Thankfully it did not take long for Taihei to return with bread and tea.

They ate as though in concert, very slowly, and making sure to chew each bite at least twenty times, pausing between each slow mouthful.

Their shared thought said, "She'll come before we finish. She wouldn't miss lunch." Taihei kept glancing at the bag beside his knee. It contained a loaf of sensei's favorite. But, regrettably, it failed to vanish between one mouthful and the next.

But as they finished and sat quietly digesting she still hadn't appeared.

"Do you know where she lives?" Asked Toride, who had taken out her kunai again and was having a great deal of fun flipping it into the grass and scaring the earthworms. The other two shared a glance and agreed that they didn't.

Taihei stood and stretched. "Well, while we're waiting we might as well practice." He slanted a long look at his sister, his smile teasing. "Perhaps on your aim, oneesan?"

He didn't even flinch as the kunai she had been balancing on her fingertip whistled past his ear. "How off was that one, Ibitsu?"

Ibitsu had flinched enough for both of them. "I…I-I d-don't know. Was she _trying _to _kill_ you?"

"Could be, could be." He grinned, as a few sliced hairs from his forelock blew away. "Or give me a haircut. One never knows. Shall we?"

"It's oniisan! O-nii-san!" Toride shrieked, "Get it right, will ya?"

"Hai, hai." Taihei said pleasantly, glancing down at the bag that contained sensei's lunch. His smile slipped down slightly and Toride backed off.

"Well, just until she comes."

"Yes," Her brother agreed. "Until she comes."

But by the time the sun had slipped behind the trees and the fireflies came out to play it was clear.

She wasn't coming.

And all three shared another thought as they looked at each other in the dusky clearing. "Something is wrong."

"We'll come back in the morning." Toride said.

Ibitsu hesitated, looking at Taihei. He smiled reassuringly.

"In the morning." He repeated firmly. "It will do you no good to stay out here all night, Ibitsu-chan."

"Hai, Taihei-san." She finally said, looking down at her feet. "Well…I'll be going then." She added reluctantly. Taihei bid her a warm goodnight and the two siblings watched her walk out of the field, glancing from side to side as though expecting to find sensei secreted among the bushes. When she was no longer a ghostly speck in the distance Toride turned to Taihei.

"No," He said. "We would have been notified."

"But if it were…" Toride said.

"Still." Taihei said. He looked pleasantly thoughtful. "I don't think she'll go home."

"You're worried about that sponge?"

"She's our team-mate, Tori-chan." He said reprovingly.

"We should be worrying about sensei."

"Team is nakama. Team is family, even if you don't think so. I will worry about both of them."

Toride snorted. "Do whatever you want. I'm going home."

"I'll stay a bit longer."

"Damn it, Tai!" Toride looked torn between leaving and seeking her nice warm bed and staying with her twin.

"Look, Tori-chan."

"…kun." She grumbled, realizing that she'd missed a chance to correct him earlier, but turning her head and seeing what Taihei had already noticed. "For crying out loud."

"Let's collect her and take her to our house." Taihei smiled. "You girls can have a sleepover."

Toride's fist whirled over his head as he ducked automatically. But she grunted "Fine."

A moment later they had taken Ibitsu, protesting, one on each side, and marched her off towards home and dinner.

As they left the clearing Taihei took one more look back. But there, as he had suspected, was nothing to see.


	2. Finding Sensei

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei, not I.

Chapter 2: Finding Sensei

If they could have thought about their activities the next day in a certain light the three genin would have considered it an exercise that would prepare them for the life of the ninja that they were so diligently training for. If they could have thought about it in that way, finding another ninja that seemed not to want to be found was good experience and perhaps would be worth a nice round level 'c' mission checked on their sheets. But, unfortunately, none of the three considered this.

"We should split up." Toride suggested as she and her teammates assembled outside the Yamanami family home the next morning.

"I think maybe we should just go back to the practice field." Ibitsu suggested timidly. "Sensei maybe got her days mixed up, I think."

"Indeed, we should go there first before we go wandering around the village." Taihei said, ignoring the fiery glares his sister was sending his way. "An excellent suggestion, Ibitsu-chan." Ibitsu blushed slightly and appeared to be examining her feet at the praise. The glare from Toride turned rather more frigid but was tempered slightly as her brother continued. "If she is not there at the accustomed meeting time we should split up, as Toride-chan said. And try to find out any information we can."

"Kun." Toride grumbled, but did not argue further as they made their way to the practice field at a pace that was neither hurried nor slow. But even accounting for the modulation of their walking sensei was not at the practice field. The three genin shared a glance, and decided that they would wait another hour.

The hour passed and still no sign of sensei.

"Oneesan, find her apartment if you can, back here by noon." Taihei said steadily once their allotted time was up. His smile had slipped to such a degree that Toride did not even argue at being called oneesan. She simply nodded and left rather quickly. "Ibitsu-chan, ask around. Her favorite restaurants would be a good place to start." But the genin did not hold much hope for her success and indeed as he watched her disappear from sight he allowed his smile to fall completely. With a whipping motion Taihei drew and flung one of his kunai at the middle training post.

The trajectory was perfect.

That bit of temper worked off Taihei took a deep breath and smiled again. Sensei, if she came would find his kunai there, for he had a particular way of wrapping the hilt. And she would know, if she came, that they had not forgotten her.

In another moment the field was empty. Taihei was going to see the Hokage.

"Thank you for seeing me, Hokage-sama." Taihei bowed slightly.

The Godaime looked around at the piles of paperwork on her desk in what Taihei thought was a relieved way, then sat back and gave the genin her full attention. "It is not a problem. What is concerning you?"

"Our sensei, Kazegaruma Tsu-sensei, has not shown up to give us our mission list these past two days, Hokage-sama. We are concerned for her."

Taihei watched closely as the Godaime's eyes shifted away for the split of a moment, otherwise he would have missed that tell that spoke that something was not right. But the Hokage just shifted through some papers on her desk. "Hmm…Tsu-sensei…no, she is not on the mission lists." She set the paper she had pretended to read back down on the desk.

"Is this S-class business? If so I will not question you further." Taihei said with an understanding smile.

"Taihei-kun, I admire your concern for your sensei." The Godaime turned in her chair and looked out the window as though considering what to say next. Taihei waited with a patient smile. Finally she said, not turning around. "I ask you to keep a close eye on her. She…in the course of events…"

"Is she injured?" Taihei asked, alarmed.

"Not physically. But something occurred that will leave a scar, with the wound a long time healing. Watch over her, even as I know she does over you. Even so, I believe she will not be missing long." The tone of the Godaime's words indicated that the interview was over, and Taihei made another short bow and left, a thoughtful smile that would have sent his sister scurrying behind a convenient piece of furniture, on his face.

Once he was safely gone, Shizune, the hokage's assistant, entered the room from another door.

"Couldn't we just have told him where she was, Tsunade-sama?"

"If she doesn't want to be found, let her not be found." The Hokage said dismissively. "Have you checked on her today?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Shizune said. "And it's rather odd, but she seems in a worse state today than she did yesterday, as though something else happened last night."

"Her physical state?"

"No." Shizune walked over to the Hokage's desk and shifted a pile of papers that Tsunade had hoped she would not notice. "She seems broken, instead."

"Not good." Tsunade said, shifting her teacup away before her assistant could pick it up and perhaps get a whiff of the contents, which were not very tea-like at all. "We cannot afford to have any of our ninja out of commission right now." Shizune made to protest, but the Hokage forestalled her. "I'm not saying we should force her back into work. That would be counter-productive. Just keep an eye on her."

"And her team?" Shizune said, her change of subject taken for reluctant agreement by the other woman.

"If they're half as good as I think they will be, she will not remain lost for long." She picked up her teacup and took a long sip. "But that genin…Taihei. He smiles too much."

"Perhaps he just has a cheerful personality."

"Hmm." Tsunade commented neutrally, setting her cup down. Being that she was rather distracted, when she did so her teacup's lack of tea came to her assistant's attention. The ensuing row is best left to the imagination. Indeed, only a few moments of it were heard by the cheerfully smiling boy who slipped away from his listening post outside the door as soon as it began.

Toride swaggered her way through the residential district, her hands on her hips and a dangerous gleam in her eye as she raked her gaze across the streets.

"You!"

The ninja, a chuunin, she had pounced upon blinked as he looked down at the girl who had somehow gotten a grip on his collar and was glaring up at him with a wildcat's feral teeth-baring grin. In the time it took to accomplish his action his well-trained mind went through a various store of possible reactions and information that such an action would merit. The fact that this girl had somehow overcome his trained reflexes and had gotten so close came into the forefront. Curiosity ruled out over a frisson of annoyance.

"Yes, young lady?"

The ninja wondered when the last time had been that he had really taken a good long look at the sky. Those damned clouds sure had it easy. Other passerby walked around him as he lay in the middle of the street, peering upwards and wondering just what it was that he had said had been so offensive. A shadow paused over him and he looked over.

"Ah." A young man who looked horribly familiar smiled down at the prone ninja. "I sense my sister's hand in this. I do apologize. Did you see which way she went?"

The ninja pointed mutely. Indeed he did not think he would be able to utter anything not in high soprano for at least another two hours. Until then he was just going to stay there. It was a nice, quiet place.

"Arigato gozaimasu, sir." Taihei made to walk off, but paused again to give another sympathetic smile. "I recommend ice."

Taihei found his sister when she was in the midst of another interrogation, and this time she had picked the wrong target, a tall, plain man that Taihei could tell was a jounin even from a distance. His strength was evident in the way he had lifted a struggling cursing Toride into the air with one arm, and was looking at her as though she was an incredibly interesting breed of cat that he had not encountered before. When Taihei appeared at the ninja's elbow he looked down.

"This belong to you?"

"Marginally, sir." Taihei said with a rueful smile. "Tori-chan you really should think of varying your mode of questioning."

"Put me down and I'll show you questioning!" She shrieked.

"That didn't make any sense." Taihei smiled. "Get a hold on your temper, Tori-chan."

"KUN!"

"Sister?" The ninja asked, understanding passing over his features.

"You have one, I take it." Taihei replied.

"Three." The ninja nodded.

"My sympathy." Taihei smiled, ignoring the stream of threats issuing from his sister's mouth. "I am looking for someone, perhaps you can help me, sir?"

"If I can." The jounin replied. "Shall I put this down?"

"A moment." He turned to look at Toride, his expression for a moment hidden from the jounin's sight. But whatever sight greeted the genin girl the ninja felt perhaps was best left to mystery, for she calmed instantly, and when he cautiously released her darted to a distance of at least three yards, and watched the two other ninja from there, a rather alarmed expression on her face. "Yes, stay there while I talk to the nice man."

'Interesting kid.' The jounin thought as the boy once again turned his smile upon the other ninja.

A few minutes later Taihei collected his sister and the two of them continued through the streets to where Taihei thought they might find Ibitsu.

Indeed it did not take long to find her. She was sitting at a table in sensei's favorite restaurant, looking glumly down at the rather large spread of food before her.

She looked up tearily when Taihei approached the table, a questioning smile on his face.

"I…I wanted to ask questions, but I thought first I should order food, and then I was done, and he said I still looked hungry, so he recommended that I try something else, and that it was really good, and before I could ask I said yes, and then he said this was good too…" Taihei seated himself at the table, a strangely silent Toride opposite him as Ibitsu continued her explanation. Apparently, he gathered by the time the girl was done, she had been persuaded to try everything on the menu and had been unable to refuse. Toride tucked into the food as he sighed internally, waiting for Ibitsu to wind down.

"And I don't have any more money, and I'm so full I can't bear to even look at it!" She sniffled.

"It's all right, Ibitsu-chan." He said soothingly. "You did very well. Just…try to be a little more assertive."

"Yeah! Li' me!" Toride said around a mouth stuffed full of food. Ibitsu looked horrified at the thought.

"We found out where her apartment is." Taihei continued. "And as soon as we finish…all this food…we'll go there."

As they ate Taihei outlined all that he had heard in the Hokage's office, and prepared the girls for what they might find.

"Maybe…she doesn't want us to find her." Ibitsu suggested timidly.

"She can send us away if she wants." Taihei agreed. "But I for one will not be satisfied until I can assure myself that she is all right."

"Yeah." Toride interjected. "And we'll drag her sorry butt out with us no matter what!"

Taihei sighed with a long-suffering smile.

"Toride-san!" Ibitsu protested.

"Well, from what Tai said she's just feeling sorry for herself…"

"I really don't think…" Taihei started.

"…so we just need to cheer her up and everything will be okay!"

"I really can't see how you came to that conclusion, Tori-chan."

"Kun." She glared. "And you'll see I'm right. Just wait."

"Well, let's worry about that after we see the bill." Taihei lifted his hands in surrender.

Ibitsu had enough on her mind without Toride's constant haranguing about how much money her impromptu feast had cost them and how they were going to have to live on instant ramen for weeks thanks to her as they walked through the darkening streets to the dormitory that housed their sensei. Her only relief was that though Taihei's eyes had widened when the bill had arrived at the table he said no word of reproof to her.

She knew she was a huge pushover, and she really did try, but she was used to rolling over and playing dead when it came to being bossed around. She had had a lot of practice at it. Until she had become a genin and part of her own team she had thought her whole lot in life would be to be someone's footstool. But things were different now.

"Are we there yet?" Toride whined. She had eaten a lot and was feeling the effects of a swollen stomach.

"Yes, Tori-chan." Taihei smiled without sympathy for her sorry state. "We're here."

"What a dump." Toride sniffed.

"It's just like all the other dormitories, Toride-san." Ibitsu offered timidly. Toride just sniffed again, loudly showing what she thought of the ninja dormitories in general. Taihei smiled encouragingly at the pale genin, prodding her to show a little more backbone. "I think it's nice."

"Feh."

Taihei patted Ibitsu on the shoulder in congratulation and looked up. "Third floor, fifth door."

"Let's get a move on, then." Toride swaggered off, her team mates trailing after. But once they reached the door her brother stopped her with a hand on her arm. "What IS it now?"

"It would be rude not to knock."

"And give her time to get away?" Toride glowered, one hand on the green door, then, to both of their surprises, it opened with no resistance, as though it had been improperly shut.

Ibitsu darted between the two siblings before they could react. "Sensei!"

Taihei, realizing that all attempt at caution had now been lost, slapped on the lights, all the dormitories being structured nearly identically he didn't even have to think to do it.

The tiny apartment was in a shambles. As Taihei walked in his sandals crunched and, looking down, he saw dirt and shattered pots and the sad remains of what perhaps had been once a veritable jungle of houseplants, all mercilessly thrown about and crushed underfoot. And in the middle of all this destruction was sensei, crouching in the middle of the floor, her eyes glazed. Her hair, always clean if rarely tidy, was a nest of dull tangles, her clothes and hands all over mud.

Ibitsu crouched over her, in tears, trying to coax some sort of reaction out of the woman.

Taihei glanced over and caught Toride's eye. Hers were astonished as they met his and held.

They'd found her. Now the question, which they really hadn't thought much about before this moment, was what to do next.


	3. Sensei Found

Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto-sensei.

Chapter 3: Sensei Found

Tsu-sensei, as they normally knew her, was a markedly different creature to the woman the three genin who were her students now saw. For one thing, sensei was usually quite animated, and liked to conceal the quickness of her mind beneath a lot of chatter. A lot of people had underestimated her due to this. For another thing, sensei was generally quite cheerful, always ready for a joke and always ready to hear what her students had to say.

Her blue eyes would twinkle with contentment, and her reddish brown hair, messily pulled back no matter how much effort she made to tame it, seemed at times to be an indicator of her moods. This seemed the case now, for it was lank and tangled as though she not only hadn't had time to wash it or brush it but had pulled mud through it.

Which, Taihei privately though, was likely the case judging by the destruction she seemed to have reaped upon her houseplants. He joined Ibitsu beside the woman, pushing the girl gently aside so her could reach past her and take sensei's chin in his hand, feeling vaguely uncomfortable while doing so.

He felt more than heard his sister moving around the room in a dazed way, kicking at potshards as they came in contact with her toes. Ibitsu stood, flustered slightly by his proximity, and went to one of the closets, presumably to look for a broom and dustpan. But he ignored them both, focusing on his sensei.

"Tsu-sensei." The young ninja said softly.

Toride glanced over once when she heard her brother speak, then quickly looked away again. Indeed, both she and Ibitsu made it a point not to look at Taihei. The uninformed will perhaps wonder why, for he was smiling very gently, his blue eyes shining with warmth and…something else. But Toride did not see this. She knew what he would look like. Indeed when the two of them were younger he had performed this trick on her countless times before their mother caught on and made him stop.

'If your sister wants to be unhappy, let her be unhappy.' She had chided, while Toride looked at her brother around her mother's legs and stuck her tongue out. But even though the words were said in exasperation there was a look of pride in Iouka's eyes at the talent already manifesting in her four-year-old son. Even so, Toride never was quite comfortable when her brother USED that talent anywhere even remotely near her. She was too susceptible to it for her own liking.

Ibitsu, who had witnessed Taihei using his talent several times firsthand since they had been teamed together, needed no prompting to get out of the way.

Taihei kept whispering, too low for the two young kunoichi to hear, though the words tugged at the edges of their ears. Toride, in order to ignore even those hints, started humming under her breath, while Ibitsu, a similar motive in mind, was rather noisier than she usually would have been in cleaning up the mess on the floor.

Finally Taihei sat back on his heels, releasing sensei as he did so.

"I can't say I'm entirely happy you did that." Tsu said, her eyes rather more alive than they had been when the trio had entered the room. "Don't mind the mess, Ibitsu-chan, I can clean it up when I'm ready."

"Hai, sensei," Ibitsu gulped, sounding like she was again on the verge of tears, these, Taihei thought, of relief.

"Glad to have you back with us, Sensei." Taihei said with a gentle, tired smile.

Tsu twisted her mouth in annoyance. "And me in such a state. I'll have no respect from you now." Ibitsu voiced a loud protest as Tsu-sensei made to stand, wavering and nearly falling again, but still waving Taihei back as he made to assist her. "I am not an invalid." Taihei stepped back and bowed as his sensei made her way over to her bed and sat down, a tired hand brushing across her forehead. "I imagine you were angry with me for skipping out on you like that." Taihei watched the muscles in her face as they tensed again.

"We were worried, sensei." Taihei agreed.

She didn't speak, but nodded, finally raising her gaze to the three of them. For a moment Taihei thought Ibitsu was going to cry once again just from the sheer desolation in their depths. "And you found me." She paused. "How many…no, I imagine it must not have been long. Has this eased your minds sufficiently?"

Toride silent up until that moment, started. "What HAPPENED…?" But was stopped from continuing by her brother's hand on her arm.

"Yes, sensei." He said as she shook herself free. "Do you need anything?"

A glimmer of humor entered Tsu's eyes as she lifted a lank lock of hair and looked at it critically. "A bath, but you are not required for that. I will see you tomorrow."

The three took this dismissal for what it was and left their sensei behind in her chaotic apartment a few moments later, though reluctantly.

"What the hell was that?" Toride exclaimed as soon as the apartment complex was out of sight.

Taihei walked along beside her, his hands clasped thoughtfully behind his back. "Why the plants…?" He murmured to himself.

"Who cares about that!" Toride exclaimed. "She was a complete mess. If you hadn't…" She cut herself off with a shudder. "How deep was it?"

"From the surface down." Taihei replied. "Practically complete." The young ninja stumbled and Ibitsu, who had been walking on his other side, sniffling, caught his arm. "Thank you, Ibitsu-chan. I'm…really tired."

"Any ideas why?" Toride asked her brother, ignoring his weakness. He had long ago been silently accorded the post of brains of the operation. Toride was a straightforward thinker. Find spot, insert kunai, was more her line.

Her brother raised one hand to indicate his confusion. "Why the houseplants?"

"Handy, make a pretty satisfying crunch." Toride supplied. "Good to have around if you want to throw something that isn't irreplaceable."

"Like mother's favorite figurine." Taihei smiled sidelong at his sister.

"Yeah, like that."

"The plants were recent. I'd say this morning." Ibitsu piped up. "She's been out of her room at least once since yesterday when she didn't show up with the mission list. It rained the night before that, and there was no trace of that mud on her clothes."

"Related or not?" Taihei asked.

"I…don't know."

Finally Taihei smiled tiredly. "It's late and I'm tired. Maybe we'll find out more when sensei comes tomorrow."

"If she does." Toride grumbled.

"She'll come." Ibitsu said staunchly, secure in her position with Taihei separating herself and Taihei's volatile sister.

"Ibitsu-chan, why don't you stay over again?" Taihei smiled down at her fondly. "It really is very late." On his other side Toride voiced a wordless protest.

"I don't…want to be any trouble." Ibitsu replied timidly.

"No trouble at all." Taihei assured her. "We enjoy having you."

"If you really don't mind." Ibitsu hedged, though she privately reveled in the prospect of not having to go home twice in as many nights.

"Not at all. We're pleased." He slanted his sister a look. "Aren't we, Tori-chan?"

"Kun." She said automatically.

"See? No problems then. It's decided." Taihei grinned, ignoring his sister's attempt to interject a comment to the contrary.

Iouka turned from the table when she heard the door slam open and saw that her children, now removing their shoes in the entryway, had once again brought their teammate home with them. She smiled, her expression mirroring her son's as he looked up and caught her gaze.

"Tadaima, mother." He said.

"Okaeri." She returned. "It's nice to see you again, Ibitsu-chan. Are any of you hungry?"

"I'm for bed, mother." Taihei demurred and headed straight to his room, apologizing to Ibitsu internally.

"Girls?" Iouka asked kindly. She didn't really mind that her children, though she really gave the credit to her son, had taken to looking after their teammate. From what she had heard it was better for all that Ibitsu remain away from her family as much as possible, for her own sake.

"I'm still stuffed from Ibitsu's banquet." Toride glowered, but the only person she never dared correct was her mother.

"Banquet?" Iouka asked. "That sounds interesting." Ibitsu blushed, looking down in embarrassment and the woman decided not to press further. "I'll lay out the extra futon in Toride-chan's room for you, dear."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm taking a bath." Toride stomped off, leaving Ibitsu with her mother.

"Would you like some tea?" Iouka asked after sparing a disapproving look at her daughter's retreating back.

"If it's not too much trouble." Ibitsu said hesitantly, reaching up and fiddling with her eyepiece.

"Then come along and you can tell me all about your day."

When Ibitsu had been shooed off to take her own bath Iouka sat a long time at the table, holding her empty teacup between her hands and staring upwards. She felt a little bad about her gentle interrogation of the girl over a cup of tea, but assured herself that Ibitsu hadn't really noticed. But she knew that trying to get information out of her son was like trying to squeeze water from stone and her daughter was just as bad in her own way. Ibitsu, the sweet child, as she thought of her, was much more easily led.

Iouka raised her cup to her lips before noticing it was empty and refilled it absently. She knew Kazaguruma Tsu by reputation only, but even so she was a bit disturbed by Ibitsu relating of what had transpired. Privately she decided to do a bit of inquiry on the side. People would tell her things that they would keep from children, even if they were genin and as such, ostensible adults.

Iouka brushed a finger thoughtfully across her mouth, wishing, not for the first time and certainly not for the last, that her husband was still there to share her thoughts with. But he wasn't and that was that.

Yamanami Iouka, widow, mother of two and former leader of her own anbu squad stood and went to the linen closet to get out the extra futon, thinking, as she did so, of what to prepare for breakfast the next morning before heading out to gather a little bit of intelligence. It would be rather like the good old days.

Tsu sat on her bed a long while before getting up the energy to get up and make her way to the bathroom. As she did so she paid no heed to the remains of her plants that crunched quietly under her feet.

Indeed she only looked down once before going out the door, at one of the plants that had merely been uprooted, the pot that had held it lying broken around the intact soil. She hesitated a moment, then set her jaw and, with a vindictive heel, ground it into her rug.

Tsu shut the door on the devastation.

Outside the apartment, concealed in the night shadows between the trees, a man watched. A mask concealed his face entirely, so no one could even guess at what he was thinking. But he stayed there, tense, long into the night, watching.


	4. Sensei Skips

About Team Five

Chapter 4: Sensei Skips

One thing that ninja of any kind dislike more than anything else, is when someone that is not the person you were expecting comes and asks something like, "Are you Kazaguruma's team?"

This was not a good way to start a morning.

The three genin shinobi stared up at the ninja that had appeared in the practice field. Toride looked, as usual, suspicious and rather angry. Ibitsu looked timid. Taihei smiled, though it was a bit strained, and answered after what he deemed was a sufficient period for a good long stare.

"We are."

"I have your mission list." The shinobi continued, unperturbed. "Your sensei wants me to assure you that you will not need supervision at any of these tasks and she is certain that you will comport yourselves well in her absence."

"But sensei said she would come!" Ibitsu protested.

The shinobi shrugged, saying very eloquently that he neither knew nor cared, and walked off after handing the mission list to Taihei.

"Well," The boy said after a moment, "She was correct. We don't need supervision for any of these."

"That's not the point!" Toride growled. "We didn't go through all the trouble of looking her up for her to just ditch us again."

"Ditch is a rather strong way to put it, Tori-chan." Taihei said repressively. "She did go through the trouble of sending us word, after all."

"Kun." Toride grumbled.

"But sensei said she would come." Ibitsu mumbled, looking down.

Taihei smiled and put a bracing hand on his nakama's shoulder. "I'm sure she meant to come, Ibitsu-chan. Maybe it's just too soon for her." She looked at him tearfully and nodded. He squeezed her shoulder and grinned. "Now. Let's get this list done." He glanced down at the missions. "First up..."

"Not weeding. ANYTHING but weeding." Toride begged under her breath.

"Weeding." Taihei finished with a grin, dodging his angrily red sister's fist.

"Why is it ALWAYS weeding!?"

"Cheer up, Tori-chan. The sooner we get through the list the sooner we can get on to more important things."

"Kun. Like what?"

"Like finding out what happened the night before last."

"Oh." Toride's temper simmered a bit, her anger directed in a different direction. But of course she would never admit that. "Whatever." She sniffed.

"There's the spirit." Her brother smiled. "So, let's get started. 'Sooner began, sooner finished, for the most part,' as mother always says."

"For the most part?" Ibitsu asked.

"Yup." The twins answered in chorus.

Toride glared at her brother. She really hated when he did that. "Let's just go." She snarled, and in a moment the field was empty.

But let's not follow them just yet. Really weeding is not one of the most exciting things to write about, so let's just shift camera angles for a bit and follow someone else so recently discussed.

"Daikon coming right up, ma'am."

"No hurry." Iouka smiled, shifting the strap of her shopping bag so that it sat more comfortably on her shoulder. Her two little ninja plus one ate a great deal and she was just glad that she and her husband had been foresighted enough to set aside a rather substantial fund to supplement the small income a shinobi widow got from the village government.

As she waited she glanced around the street with a practiced eye. Over by the bathhouse entrance were two of the worst gossips in the village. But of course, everyone knew about that so information of any worth did not often make it to their busy mouths. She glimpsed a few younger kunoichi around her children's teacher's age, which might have better possibilities, but she felt she could do better.

As the vendor handed her the radishes she glimpsed a familiar profile and knew she had struck a potential gold mine. After a few seconds of dispirited haggling she followed after until the ninja disappeared around a corner.

As silent as a mouse she set her bag by the wall and drew a kunai from inside her skirts. She crept along the wall foot by foot until she reached the corner. The next few movements would be difficult to describe as they were performed mirror image and resulted in both ninja standing with the other's kunai at their throats and grinning at each other like fools.

"Good morning, Kokushi-kun." Iouka smiled, her kunai moving not a centimeter.

"Ohayo, Iouka-senpai." The ninja of middling height and strikingly handsome features enhanced only by a single cross shaped scar on his chin smiled in return. "Might I enquire what you need this fine morning? I assume you need something."

"Good, then you haven't let you instincts get dull."

"Like that could happen in ANBU." He said with a rueful twist to his lips. "We done now?"

Iouka stepped back, lowering her kunai and making it disappear among her skirts again. "Only because I left my groceries unattended. Anything urgent you need to get to?"

Kokushi sheathed his own weapon. "I saw you had a bag with you when I saw you in the marketplace. And nothing urgent, really."

"Good." She said, leading him to her bag and handing it to him to carry. "Let's have lunch and a little interrogation."

"Ooh, sounds like fun." He smiled, shaking his tawny head and trailing after his senpai.

A half hour later the two of them were seating in a secluded little booth in a small restaurant slash bar that seemed to consist entirely of secluded little nooks. The architect understood his clients well. It was a perfect place for an intrigue, a tryst or an exchange of information. The waiter took their orders silently and returned to deposit them on the table just as silently. The two shinobi talked of inconsequential things until he did so.

"So how are the kids?" Kokushi asked, sipping his tea.

"Well. They're genin now."

"Toride-kun still a handful?"

"Some things, regrettably, never will change." She said with an exasperated sigh.

Kokushi turned serious for a moment. "I was sorry to hear about Sakuma. He was a good ninja. Two years now, is it?"

"Yes, he was. And yes, it was." She said with a small smile.

Kokushi was relieved that she didn't seem upset by his commiseration. It was a difficult thing to talk about, particularly to the pretty woman who had once been a very pretty girl that he had had a small secret crush on. He didn't begrudge that Sakuma had gotten her, though. He had been a good man as well as a good ninja. He shook his head to dislodge the remembrance, grateful that the server came at that moment to cover his momentary distraction.

"So, can we speak while we eat or is not entirely meal time discussion?"

"I imagine it's safe." She said, taking a bite of food in her chopsticks and raising it to her lips. "Are you familiar with Kazaguruma Tsu?"

She watched closely, and so saw as Kokushi's expression sobered slightly.

"I know her, yes." He replied.

"She is the sensei assigned to my children's team. Last night they came to me and they were very concerned about her." She paused to take another bite of food. "It seems that some time in the past two days something happened to make her...extremely despondent. The children first became worried when she did not show up at their assigned meeting. Do you have any idea what may have happened?"

Kokushi stared down at his food. "I suppose I can tell you. Since it's over and done with. Declassified but not really bandied about..."

Iouka leaned forward and covered his hand with her own. "I would be most grateful, Kokushi-kun."

Kokushi looked across the table into her blue, blue eyes and knew himself lost even before he opened his mouth to tell the whole story.

"Sit down, my dears."

Taihei did as his mother ordered immediately, followed shortly by Toride and Ibitsu, who he had once again collared into accompanying them home. "My knees hurt." Toride grumbled half-heartedly. "Stupid weeding."

"I assume this has something to do with sensei, mother?" Taihei said with a knowing smile.

Iouka smiled back. "You see through me far too easily, dear. Yes. I had a nice lunch with a gentleman, who I will not name, and found out some very interesting information."

"You went on a date!?" Toride accused, starting up on her aching knees. "Mother!"

Iouka smiled mischievously. "I'm your mother, not dead, sweets."

"She's teasing you, Tori-chan." Taihei told his stunned sister, though he slid his mother a look that was more assessing than she would like. "I'm certain it was information purposes only."

"Of course. Now, would you like some tea? I have some snacks as well. This may take a while." Iouka said hurriedly.

When everyone was settled in around the table Iouka took a sip of her own tea and took a deep breath.

"This is a closed case, you understand. That's the only reason he could tell me about it at all. I'm going to say at the start that your sensei had no knowledge whatsoever of this before it occurred, though she has been informed since."

"Do we really need a prologue?" Toride mumbled under her breath. Her brother gave her a silencing nudge and a warning smile that shut her up immediately.

"Kazaguruma's father was an information trader. He had been for years, but had been very circumspect about it. Really it was only her elevation to jounin and the resulting ANBU investigation that brought it to light. I don't know if you know this, but the ANBU takes a close look at all new jounin, in case they might want to recruit them, you see."

Taihei nodded. "I had heard something of it." Toride shrugged and Ibitsu looked quietly impatient, her thoughts exclusive for sensei. 

"Well, he got wind of it and was going to flee, taking her with him. Of course she knew nothing of this and thought he was just going on a business trip, I gather, when he asked her to accompany him to the border. He was going to...give her to his clients, as a gesture of good faith."

Taihei growled angrily, his smile disappearing.

"Calm down, Taihei-kun."

"Her own father!" He said, his face twisting into a scowl. Toride started eyeing the exits.

"Some parents don't...care as much as others." Ibitsu said softly and Taihei's expression moved slightly into a safer level.

"In any case, it is over and done with. The ANBU intercepted them and in the course of events her father was killed. Kazaguruma-chan was knocked out and transported back to the village." 

"When was this, honored mother?" Ibitsu asked, as Taihei was still in the danger zone.

"Two...no, three nights ago."

"The night before she first did not come, then." Taihei smiled in understanding and the air in the room suddenly seemed a great deal less volatile. "I understand now. But why the houseplants?"

"Beg pardon?" His mother asked.

"Did Ibitsu not mention that when you had your little talk?" He asked, proving once again that he was a little too sharp for her liking, even as she was proud of him for it. 

"Nothing about houseplants."

Briefly Taihei gave a bit more detail to Ibitsu's tale.

Iouka looked thoughtful. "Kokushi did mention that one of the members of the squad on the detail seemed rather more unnerved than usual after the mission. He's a mokuton user. Could that be it?"

The three genin looked impressed. Mokuton was NOT a talent that just any person could command.

"Think we can find him?" Taihei asked.

Iouka shrugged. "Not likely. You know how the ANBU are."

"Do YOU know who it is, mother?" Toride asked.

She laid a finger to her lips. "Sorry, it's classified. But if he's somehow connected to her, I think he would want to check up on her occasionally, don't you?"

Taihei grinned. "Thank you, mother."

An hour later the four of them sat, relatively peacefully given the nature of those attendant, enjoying dinner when a knock came at the door. Iouka excused herself and went to answer it.

Toride scowled after her. "I think it was a date."

"I...think it's nice." Ibitsu volunteered hesitantly. A moment later she cowered under the looks her nakama showered upon her. Actually it was more of a general cower, since Taihei looked thoughtful more than anything else. But whatever was going through his mind at that moment he kept to himself.

"Children?" Iouka came back, unattended.

The three were instantly on their feet.

---

"I've never been to this part of town before." Toride muttered to herself as the three traversed the darkened streets. "Looks seedy."

Taihei nodded in agreement, a worried smile gracing his lips. Absently he patted Ibitsu's hand where it had clenched on his arm with no indication that she was thinking of releasing him anytime soon.

A less generous person, such as Toride, would wonder how on earth Ibitsu ever thought she was going to be a ninja if a dark night reduced her to such terror. As it was Toride merely looked at her condescendingly and with a sniff went back to her perusal of the shadows.

"This is the place." Taihei announced with a raised eyebrow.

"..." Came in triplicate.

"Here?" Ibitsu quavered.

"Ooooh! Do you think there'll be a brawl!?" Toride grinned and cracked her knuckles.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Taihei smiled ruefully. "Well. Let's go get her."

It proved somewhat difficult to extricate their target from the loud, dim recesses of the bar. This was mainly because she had anchored herself to her stool with both feet twisted around the legs and took a grip on the bar with one hand, the other occupied with her drink. Judging from the number of empty glasses that sat before her it wasn't her first. Or even her twelfth. It may have been her seventeenth. Taihei didn't have much time for a more accurate count.

But no matter how they accomplished it, the three were eventually able to heave her to her feet and, since Iouka was nothing if not foresighted, Taihei paid her rather substantial tab. The rest of the patrons regarded this with some amusement but made no attempt to either help or hinder. A ninja's business was a ninja's business after all.

Not to be deterred the three of them managed to wrestle their sensei out the door to the sound of some appreciative applause. This appeased Toride somewhat from her lack of a desired brawl. But Taihei knew if she actually realized the nature of that applause she would make her own. And their mother had not provided enough funds to replace broken furniture. So he let her bask in her misappropriated glory.

"I'm not ready to go home!" Tsu protested, dragging her feet. "I wanna 'nother drink!" She looked at a post across the street. "More sake my good man!" She commanded it. It failed to oblige.

She grumbled nonsensically and struggled ineffectually, for though they had nothing on her in size her genin team possessed four more hands than she, even if one of those sets of hands belonged to a nearly hysterical young kunoichi who hiccupped occasionally.

"She keeps this up I'm knocking her out and we can drag her!"

At this poorly judged statement Tsu revived from her befuddlement somewhat and gave Toride a look that rivaled one of Taihei's direst grins for menace. "You think you can pull that again, you bastard!" She reached for one of her fans but Taihei hurriedly grabbed her hand.

"Sensei!" He cried, while Toride was silenced for a moment. She might not really be a girl but she certainly wasn't a bastard. "She's mistaken you for someone else, Tori-chan." But then his words were swallowed as he struggled further at Tsu's regained struggling.

Then something else caught her intoxicated attention. "Trees! Trees! Where's my kunai? Someone give me a damned exploding tag." She shook a fist at the opposing tree; which did nothing more than rustle its branches slightly at her vehemence. "You think you can get away with this?"

As one the three genin followed her gaze. If a tree could look confused this one would. As it was they looked confused enough to encompass it in their confusion field.

Then as abruptly as she was roused to anger all the life seemed to sap out of her limbs. "I... I... LOVED YOU!" She cried. "Stupid maple tree." She whimpered.

"Weird fetish."

"Shut up, Toride."

"Come on, sensei." Taihei said gently as Toride tried to figure out who that statement had come from. It had almost sounded like Ibitsu's voice. But that was laughable. Yes, entirely inconceivable.

"Come along, sensei." Taihei repeated, getting a good grip on her trembling frame. "Let's get you home."

"Shoufuu no baka." Tsu-sensei repeated in a half-asleep mumble. 


	5. Confronting Sensei

Naruto belongs to the inestimable Kishimoto-sensei.

Chapter 5: Confronting Sensei

"She's too heavy!" Toride protested a few blocks away from Tsu-sensei's dormitory.

Taihei, who had been watching something in the darkness, brought his attention back with a snap. The three genin stood watching each other in the dim light cast by one of the lamps that lined the streets, considering what they should do. Taihei knew they could make it, but something in the darkness gave him an idea.

"We'll just have to leave her here." He looked around. "There's a bench, we can prop her up there until morning."

Ibitsu began a protest but was silenced by a small, nearly hidden gesture of Taihei's hand.

Toride, on the other hand, was all for it even without her brother's prompting. "Good. That'll teach her a lesson."

"Indeed, Tori-chan." Taihei smiled, causing his sister to look at him suspiciously even as she voiced her usual correction.

"I-if you're sure she'll be fine." Ibitsu said hesitantly although she wasn't sure what her nakama had in mind and did not like this AT ALL.

"No one will bother her." Taihei said encouragingly as they wrestled the comatose woman to the bench and propped her up in what looked like might be a reasonably comfortable pose. "We'll come back and check on her in the morning. Come along now." He took Ibitsu's arm and towed her away as she tried to trail reluctantly behind.

Toride was the last to leave with a glance after her brother's retreating back she hurriedly unwound the scarf around her neck and draped it over her teacher's shoulders. "Can't have you sniffling all over the place when you come back." She whispered grumpily before darting after her companions.

All was quiet except for Tsu-sensei's light snores.

Next came a rather boring period in which crickets sang and clouds drifted impassively across the gibbous moon. Tsu didn't stir.

A light breeze picked up and rustled the leaves of the surrounding trees and a cat slunk across one of the nearby alleyways, casting a disparaging glance over the unconscious kunoichi.

All was still once again as the clouds continued to drift past. But this time, between shadow and moonlight someone else appeared.

It was often impossible to tell if an ANBU was a man or tall woman. The ANBU all dressed alike, after all. And since they covered their faces it was often difficult to tell until they talked. Difficult to tell unless, of course, they had rather obvious...attributes.

This one didn't look feminine at all, though. He was rather tall, and broad across the shoulders. The muscles in his arms, bare but for the telltale tattoo, rippled as he gently lifted the woman off the bench and cradled her against his chest.

"Excuse me?"

The ANBU turned, his body completely tensed, the mask, of course, expressionless.

Taihei took a moment to study the mask, one of the only ways to tell most ANBU apart, as most of them had crafted theirs to match their individual preferences. It gave the impression of a cat very distinctly, as much as his posture did, strung and ready for flight. He did not, however, look in the least bit tempted to put Tsu down.

Ibitsu stepped up behind him and Toride stood beside him, glowering. She was infuriated that she had bothered to leave her scarf behind, and embarrassed that her teammates had caught her out at it. All this broiled down to the rumblings that those aforementioned villagers would pay attention to if they knew what was good for them and at least had time to throw a few things into a bag before they ran to the hills.

"Sorry about this." Taihei continued. "Did you really think we would leave her here?"

The ANBU shrugged slightly. "I don't know you."

His voice was another thing Taihei filed away in his mind though he would be hard pressed to decide anything extraordinary about it.

"She never spoke of us?" Taihei asked, feeling the waves of fury radiating off his sister gain in intensity.

The ANBU was silent.

"Wha?"

The attention of all four refocused. Tsu-sensei was blinking. It was obvious she didn't know where she was, what she was doing. It was entirely possible that at this point she couldn't recall WHO she was. Taihei wouldn't lay down any money on that one.

But the ANBU moved more swiftly than any of the others could see. In a moment Tsu was back on the bench and he was gone.

And just as quickly, Tsu-sensei was asleep again.

"Interesting." Taihei commented quietly.

Toride let out a howl of rage.

"Ah, let's step back, Ibitsu-chan."

A minute later the dust cleared revealing one of the trees felled rather more spectacularly than their sensei could have managed with but a kunai and an exploding tag.

Taihei waved a hand in front of his face to clear the dust away and looked over at his seething sister. "Feel better, now?"

She looked at him, her blue eyes wild. "A bit."

"Then we'd better go before anyone else gets here to witness your...handiwork."

Another minute later the three of them managed to get their sensei to her feet, as she had not roused, and left the place hurriedly.

Behind them the tree, neatly divided into three clean sections, lay there in the dust of the road. Another minute later the ANBU dropped out of the branches of the one next to it and examined the hot-tempered girl's handiwork.

"Sorry about that." He told the tree.

"Quick, calm and timid." His masked shifted slightly, as though he was smiling behind it. "Just like she always said."

Yet another minute and the spot was once again empty but for the crickets and the shadows of clouds.

"Sorry for intruding again." Taihei smiled as he shouldered open his sensei's door. She didn't answer, which was entirely expected as she had passed out at least a block ago. With some effort the three genin deposited their soused sensei on her bed. There was a moment's pause as they considered what to do next.

Finally Taihei nodded. "I'm going to leave this to you girls." And before Toride could even protest he slipped out the door again.

"Well," Ibitsu quavered, "Let's at least get her zori off."

While the girls were divesting their sensei of her clothing, or at least her shoes, Taihei was prowling.

He didn't truly expect to find what he was looking for. It had been a gamble and not an entirely profitable one. For now the man knew that they were aware of his existence. He did not expect to catch the ninja out again, but there was at least a chance that he would be approached instead.

He rounded a corner and stopped. The ANBU was standing there, just as tense as he had been earlier.

Taihei stood back and watched him just as intently.

"I don't believe we've been introduced." Taihei said pleasantly.

"And we won't be. Not in this time and place. Perhaps never, perhaps eventually. Time will tell." The ninja said dismissively. "It is not up to me."

"Then what purpose do you have in confronting me?" Taihei was still perfectly relaxed, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, a patient, slightly amused smile on his face. "Merely to tell me that we won't meet? I'm Taihei, Yamanami Taihei, by the way."

"I know who you are."

"Hardly seems fair, does it." It obviously wasn't a question and Taihei approved when the ninja did not take it as such.

"I just..." And now the ninja seemed uncomfortable, as much as could be told with him wearing a mask and all. He seemed to glance up at Tsu-sensei's lighted window. "Wanted to ask you to keep taking care of her."

"She's our teacher. We wouldn't abandon her." Taihei crossed his arms. "Will YOU be watching over her as well?"

"You will not see me again." He said.

"Will she?"

"You ARE sharp." The shinobi chuckled, and it sounded rather forced. "I don't know. There's... too much pain."

"For you or for her?"

"For both." His broad shoulders dropped for a moment, showing his fatigue. "I will be gone for a while. It is best." Then he straightened again. "Time will tell." He repeated, but Taihei knew he was referring to something entirely different from earlier. Then he was gone among the trees as quickly and silently as though he had melted into the underbrush.

"I see." Taihei muttered.

He was leaning against the rail looking out into the night when the girls finally emerged from their sensei's apartment. "All finished?" He asked without turning around.

"She's as comfortable as we could manage." Ibitsu replied softly. Toride sniffed loudly as she wound her scarf around her neck again. Her teammates thought it prudent not to draw attention to the fact that she had taken it off at all.

"Well, let's head home, then." He turned around. "Tori-chan, what happened to your eye?"

Toride shuffled her feet, avoiding her brother's gaze. But he was nothing if not relentless. "She slugged me."

One of Taihei's eyebrows disappeared behind his forelock. "Is that so?"

"Just shut up."

"Well, we'll have mother put some ice on it when we get home. Come along Ibitsu-chan. You can bunk with us tonight. It's too late for you to go home." Ibitsu nodded mutely.

"She's going to have a hell of a hangover in the morning." Toride said a trace spitefully.

"I imagine." Taihei agreed. "Though I can't say I know from experience."

"I left some aspirin on her table." Ibitsu chimed in.

"Very kind of you, Ibitsu-chan." He glanced around once and made a decision. "Let's go." For now he would keep the ANBU's appearance to himself. It was a guy thing.

The next morning she did not show up again. The three genin sighed and without exchanging a word, headed off to their sensei's apartment.

"This can not go ON!" Toride bellowed as she slammed the door back so hard it bounced off the wall and nearly hit her in the face. "Sensei!"

"Gently, Tori-chan." Taihei chided.

"You stay out of this, Tai!" Toride snarled. "And for the last time it's KUN! Get it right."

Taihei paid no attention to this. It had been the 'last time' so many times that he had lost count. He peered past his sister to find sensei sitting up in her bunk clutching her head in her hands. In a moment Ibitsu pushed past the two of them.

"Here, sensei." She said quietly, grabbing the aspirin off the table and thrusting them into her hand then pulling a bottle of juice out of her pack and breaking the seal.

Sensei took them and squeezed her eyes open a slit, wincing as the bright morning sun slanted across her face. "Urgh."

"Oh, suck it up." Toride snarled as she stomped past her brother. "Honetly!"

"Be silent, Toride." Tsu said quietly. "You forget who you are addressing."

"No I don't." Toride growled. "I know exactly who I'm talking to. Hiding, drinking, busting up your rooms. Running away."

"Toride!" Taihei said sharply.

"No. I won't be silent." Toride shook off her brother's hand. "Look, we know what happened. We know you're grieving. But you're a ninja for kami's sake! ACT LIKE ONE. Or I'm going to petition for another teacher."

"You have no idea..."

"You think I don't?" Toride screeched, causing each of them to wince. "I lost my father, too! And at least he wasn't a scheming bastard who would sell me as soon as look at me. A traitor."

"How dare you!"

"Oh, didn't you know?" Toride said angrily.

"My father was not... they killed him for no reason!"

"Sensei." Taihei said quietly and she turned to look at him. "I'm afraid that is...incorrect. Have you spoken to Hokage-sama?"

"I..." She ran her fingers through her tangled hair. "No. I did not wish to speak to anyone."

"Then I advise you do, sensei." Taihei said gently. "We will accompany you." He looked at Ibitsu, then seemed to notice something rather belatedly. "Do something for sensei's headache, will you? Then we can...er...get dressed and go...I'll just...wait outside..." He fled.

"Sensei," Ibitsu squeaked, "You, er...might want to pull your blanket up."

Tsu looked down, then up again. "Did you do this?" She asked very calmly for someone who had just appeared bare-breasted before her students, one of them a boy and another who regarded herself as such.

Ibitsu fidgeted and blushed. "You looked so uncomfortable and we didn't want to go through your drawers for your night things."

"Hm. Indeed." She nodded, her hands still. "Go join Taihei. I will be out momentarily."

Only when they had gone out the door did her face flush with mortification. "Some sensei I'm turning out to be," she muttered as she got out of bed, carefully. But thankfully they had at least not divested her of her panties.

They were lined up outside her door when she emerged, looking up at her expectantly, Toride looking abominably smug.

"Rooftops." She said shortly, and took off, leaving them to trail behind and trying to ignore her pounding head.

The three genin waited outside the hokage's office when Tsu was admitted immediately.  
"Hokage-sama." She said with no preamble as soon as the door shut behind her. "Is what they say true?"

Tsunade leaned forward and rested her elbows on her desk. "That depends on what they said." She replied cautiously.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Ibitsu asked Taihei as he leaned against the wall. He could tell Toride was itching to go and listen at the door, but she wouldn't unless he did and he was not going to give her the satisfaction.

"I can only imagine." Taihei replied. "But I think we can guess."

"Yeah, I guess so." Toride said, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.

"Are you all right, Ibitsu-chan?"

"Yes, Taihei-san." She fidgeted. "When...when do you think things will get back to normal, Taihei-san."

He smiled reassuringly. "Knowing sensei, it won't be long."

As the minutes dragged out the three genin did not even think of giving up their post. But it was not the most entertaining thing to do, waiting. So eventually Taihei pulled out a string and occupied himself with weaving intricate patterns between his fingers as Ibitsu watched in fascination. Toride ignored the two, staring at the ceiling and wondering how the ninja in the hokage's building would react if she started playing with her kunai to kill the time.

Thankfully before she could put this plan into action the door of the hokage's office opened and Tsu-sensei emerged.

Taihei's string disappeared into his pack and all three stood to attention. Sensei's eyes were red, as though she had been crying, but the primary emotion on her face was not grief, but anger. A white-hot rage suffused her features, like the sort that Toride emitted when she was at her finest. The girls hid behind Taihei, knowing that in the face of nearly anything, even enraged teachers he was the calm bulwark.

Tsu-sensei looked down at them. And she took a deep breath. "Omaitachi..." She let the breath out. "I...have the mission list for today. Let's go."

Then she stalked off, leaving her students to trail in her wake, exchanging glances and shrugs.

Omaitachi - means something like, 'you guys' 


	6. Training with Sensei

Naruto belongs to the inestimable Kishimoto-sensei. I'm just borrowing it.

Chapter 6: Training with Sensei

"Maintaining an even chakra flow is not something that comes easily to most ninja, Toride-kun." Tsu-sensei said calmly. "Don't fret so much about it."

Taihei looked down, or up, it depended on how one wanted to perceive the perspective of someone hanging upside down on a tree branch.

"Calm, and discipline." Tsu continued. "Are essential. And practice. Taihei, come down now. You too, Ibitsu-chan. I think Toride-kun will have an easier time of this without an audience."

The two other genin exchanged smiles redolent with their shared triumph and carefully walked down the vertical trunks until their feet once again found the horizontal ground.

"Good job." Tsu said, ignoring the venomously jealous looks Toride was shooting her companions. "Do you have any advice for Toride-kun?"

"Keep a hold on your temper, Tori-chan." Taihei said, let that hang in the air for a moment and when she went for her knives, continued. "We both know you have more chakra reserves than I do. You just need a firmer grip on them, and this'll be easy."

Ibitsu declined any advice.

"Fine then. You've heard what I had to say, now I'm going to leave you to implement it." Tsu-sensei said, patting Toride on the head before turning to the others. "You two, taijutsu drills in the field. Now." She shot a look back at the glowering Toride before studiously turning her attention elsewhere. "It'll give the two of you time to catch up."

Toride's rage vanished and she was disgusted to find herself blushing. She looked after the three of her companions to make sure none of them had caught her at it, and was satisfied that they had all been safely out of the clearing.

With a sigh she looked threateningly at the tree before her. The tree didn't pay any attention. It had obviously not gotten the news about what happened to the last tree that had crossed her.

In the clearing nearby, Taihei and Ibitsu sparred.

It wasn't that Ibitsu was no good at taijutsu, but she was more inclined to defend, defend, defend, rather than taking the chance to attack instead.

Taihei was nearly as bad, unless he was really, really angry. Then it was up to everyone else, up to and including his allies, to get out of the way. Berserker was not too strong a term. But that, perhaps, was the reason for Taihei's normally fountain of calm. He knew what he was capable of, and he preferred not to have to show anyone else.

The two of them were not really the best choice of opponents, but you had to make do with what you had.

Tsu stood at the edge of the field and watched them, while simultaneously keeping an ear out for any explosions coming from the direction in which they had left Toride.

"Counter-attack, Ibitsu! Don't just stand there and wait for him to come to you!" She bellowed in a voice that any self-respecting drill sergeant wouldn't be shamed to own. "Taihei! Forget she's a girl! That's insulting! Ibitsu, don't let him get away with it!" "ARGH! He could have killed you twice over right then, right there!" "An opening! Take it! Make one!"

As always, she wasn't quite sure that they were listening. This was Tsu's first time training her own squad of genin, and she wondered if it was always this difficult or if it was just her own fantastic luck. After a while she fell silent and just watched.

"All right." She said after a few more minutes, coming onto the field. The two genin fell still, their chests heaving with the aftereffects of the heavy exertion. "Let me show you something." 

Tsu had heard that there were some, and knew some others for a fact, that could summon fifty or even a hundred shadow clones. As it was she tried not to feel bad that she could only summon seven, though HE had always said that she would be able to summon more as she grew in experience.

The appropriate seals and one 'Kage bunshin no jutsu' later, there were two more Tsus standing in the clearing. Another jutsu later and the shadow clones became perfect replicas of her two students.

Tsu looked at her clones. "No holds barred. Just don't kill them. And do try to avoid major bodily harm."

"Yes, Tsu-sensei." The student clones chorused and split off to confront themselves as Tsu once again took herself off the field to watch.

"This is very irregular." Taihei told himself.

"Somewhat." He answered. "But if this is what she thinks is best, who are we to argue?"

"I suppose you're right." And he attacked himself.

Ibitsu stared at herself.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" She asked. "Tsu-sensei's expending a lot of effort for this, you know."

"You..." Ibitsu quavered.

"Yes?"

"I hate you." She hissed.

Tsu watched Ibitsu come at Ibitsu as though she was her worst enemy and Taihei facing Taihei with identical smiles and rather more dangerous moves than he would dare attempt with his teammate and allowed herself a small smile. They really were good kids, after all.

"Now listen here," Toride said. "We seem to be having a little problem communicating. I KNOW I have it right, but you're just not cooperating."

The tree looked unmoved by this little speech.

One of Toride's faults was her habit of placing blame on everyone but herself. It was one fault of many that she would not acknowledge. The tree was just being uncooperatively dense was all.

"Right. One foot in front of...on top of...over..." Toride paused, then gave up, "...the other."

A squirrel chattered at her from high in the branches.

She looked up at it, then glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "What are you doing here?" She asked, directing her attention up again.

The squirrel chattered something long and indiscernible, lashing its tail this way and that.

"Oh, well. If you say so." She paused again. "Little help?"

Toride emerged from the trees with a triumphant bounce to her swagger about an hour later to find the clearing a scene of utter chaos. She blinked, then rubbed her eyes once or twice to make sure she wasn't seeing double. She wasn't.

"Ano, Tsu-sensei?"

Tsu emerged out of the smoke, fanning it gently away with her red fan. The blue one remained safe in its holster, so Toride knew that nothing was seriously wrong. "Ah, Toride-kun. Success?"

"Yeah. What's up with that?" She pointed out into the hazy clearing where it seemed as though she had two brothers fighting one another. She was a little miffed at that. It was HER job to fight with Taihei. She didn't need another him getting in the way.

"Ah, I think Ibitsu-chan got a little carried away."

"...Ibitsu did?"

"I'm not entirely certain but I think she blew herself up."

"At least that's what this amount of smoke would indicate, and I don't think I feel that clone's drain on my chakra any longer."

"Clone."

"Right."

"And you...didn't invite me?"

"Maybe next time, Toride-kun." Tsu hid her smile behind her fan. She would have to find a bigger field if Toride were to fight herself, and make sure that there was no one else within at least a mile radius.

The fan closed with a snap, and a sudden gust of wind blew the clearing clear of dust and smoke to reveal a shaken-looking Ibitsu and two smiling Taiheis.

"Good match." One Taihei said, and the two of them shook hands before one of them disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Too bad. I rather liked him. Does that mean we're finished, sensei?" The remaining Taihei asked with a grin.

"Yes. That is quite enough for today." Tsu walked over to where Ibitsu was crouched, looking dazedly around. "I knew you had it in you, Ibitsu-chan." She smiled, ruffling the girl's pale hair. "All right, everyone. Dinner on me."

---

"I haven't been here in years." Tsu mused as the four of them settled onto the stools at the counter of Ichiraku Ramen.

"You haven't? We come here all the time." Taihei said, leaning around Ibitsu.

"Well, he doesn't like..." Tsu looked away as though regretting she had said anything, but determined to finish the thought, continued, "ramen. It's not important."

"Here you go."

There was a clatter as four bowls of ramen hit the counter and the four ninja took up their chopsticks with a heartfelt, 'Ittedakimasu!'

What followed was a long silence with the sounds of slurping noodles and the occasional 'This is so good!' to punctuate it.

Tsu finished her bowl and tried not to wince as Toride ordered seconds, then thirds, instead making small talk with the owner and his daughter, Ayame.

They had been acquainted of old and found a great many things to talk about, but Tsu couldn't help but notice one or two studiously avoided topics of conversation and was forced to conclude that in the two weeks that had passed since 'that night' as it had come to be called in her mind, word had gotten around.

It wasn't really unexpected. While classified information was kept that way the instant it was otherwise the rumor mill got a hold of it and it made the rounds with blinding, even to a ninja, speed.

It did make things rather strained after a while, however. So it was that Tsu was rather glad when Toride set down her last bowl of ramen and declared herself unable to eat another bite.

"How much do I owe you?" Tsu asked Teuchi, reaching for her wallet.

"On the house today, Tsu-chan."

Tsu's hand paused and she looked up at the man with a quizzical expression. His face was mildly smiling as usual, but she caught a hint of sympathy in his eyes.

She smiled strainedly in return. "No, really, I must insist." She made to open her wallet, but a large, gentle hand stopped her.

"Next time, Tsu-chan." Teuchi said softly. "Don't be a stranger, all right?"

Tsu glanced over at her genin, finding their attention studiously elsewhere. "Teuchi..."

"Don't make him beg, Tsu-san." Ayame interjected with a smile. "You know how hard it is for him to turn down custom."

"Well...I suppose I shouldn't argue, then." Tsu replied, replacing her wallet, finding herself unable to look at either of them in the eyes. "But next time I'm going to insist on paying, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Wouldn't even think of it, Tsu-chan." Teuchi smiled, turning away.

Tsu spoke without turning to her team. "You guys go home now and get a good night's sleep. We leave in the morning."

"Hai, Tsu-sensei." They chorused and she heard a shuffling of feet and felt the movement of air that they disturbed making their way out into the street.

It was only when they were well away that Tsu again spoke. "Ayame-chan?"

The girl didn't pause in wiping down the counters and taking the used bowls away. "Hai?"

"Have you seen..." She stopped herself and shook her head. "No, never mind. He doesn't like ramen. Good night, Ayame, Teuchi." And in another moment she was gone as well.

Ayame let out a heavy sigh. "Poor Tsu-san."

Teuchi coughed, "Just goes to prove what I always say about getting involved with ninja."

"Something about ramen, wasn't it, 'tousan?"

---

Ibitsu stood at the crossroads and displayed all the signs of massive indecisiveness. Any person making a study of such signs, if seeing her at this moment, would fall upon his knees at her feet and declare her a prophet. After all, one would have to be a little crazy to make an exclusive study of such things.

She shuffled her feet, fidgeted her fingers, looked this way and that and various other things.

"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Toride asked.

"No... I... I should go home tonight. I think." Ibitsu whispered.

Taihei smiled at her. "Whatever you think best, Ibitsu-chan. Just remember that you can come by our house any time of the day or night, okay?"

"I know." Ibitsu smiled wanly at the boy. "Thank you."

"Well, if you're gonna go, you'd better go." Toride said impatiently, remembering that this would be the last time in at least a week that she would be able to sleep in her own comfortable bed. "I won't wait up."

"Yes, Toride is right. You know where to find the key to let yourself in." His smile was tinged with concern and Ibitsu was grateful.

"I...suppose I'd better go, then." Ibitsu said finally, turning her feet in the direction of the place her parents lived. "I'll see you tomorrow!" She called back, knowing that Taihei at least would still be there to hear her farewell. It was a habit of his, so she knew he wouldn't leave at least until she was out of sight. Another comforting thing, knowing that at least SOMEONE missed her when she had gone.

"I'm home." Ibitsu called very softly, sliding aside the door that led into her traditional style house. The call echoed in the sparse confines. 'Welcome home, Ibitsu,' she said the reply to herself, 'Did you have a good day? Oh, you're going away tomorrow? We'll miss you.'

She slipped her feet into her slippers and padded down the hall towards the stairs that led to her room. As she passed one of the open doors she glanced inside and saw her mother and father sitting at the table. Their teacups were in their hands but both were looking at the doorway.

"Mother. Father." Ibitsu said, ducking her head.

"You're filthy." Her mother said without preamble.

"We were training, mother."

"Where? In a mud pit? I hope you didn't put your filthy shoes in the entry."

"I cleaned them before I came home, mother."

"Good." She turned back to her tea. "You may go."

Ibitsu hesitated. "We're going away on a mission tomorrow, mother, father. I won't be back for a while."

"Why are you bothering to tell me that?" Her mother replied in what seemed to be genuine confusion.

"I...just thought I'd let you know." Ibitsu quavered.

"Fine." Her mother heaved a sigh of exasperation. "You may go NOW." Her silent father nodded slightly.

"Good night mother, father." Ibitsu bowed and continued up the dark stairs to her dark room. And if an errant tear was seen on her cheek I believe it could be excused.

When Iouka woke in the morning, very early, it was to the not entirely uncommon sight of Ibitsu curled up on the floor of the family room, fast asleep curled around her traveling pack.

"Poor little thing," She sighed, going to fetch an extra blanket from the storage cupboard. She returned momentarily and spread it over the small kunoichi, careful not to wake her as she brushed a lock of pale hair away from her face. "I'd like to smack some sense into those parents of yours, dear." She whispered before heading to the kitchen to quietly cook breakfast.

---

Taihei sighed, dropping his pack to the ground. "Where'd he wander off to this time, Ibitsu?"

Ibitsu turned, scanning the area. "That way." She pointed.

Taihei turned and squinted. "Any high cliffs, rivers, or other various hazardous terrain in that direction?"

Ibitsu squinted as well, then reached up and pulled her eyeglass up to her forehead. It took but a moment for her to focus. "There's a well-traveled road. Many people use it, but not in the last day or two. I don't see their paths detouring around any hazards so I think it's safe." She closed her eye and pulled down the glass again.

"That's good, then." He replied with a smile. "Are the others coming?"

Ibitsu shifted her gaze again to the path they had been following. "They're not far behind. Are we going ahead?"

"I think we should. We'll collect him...again...and rejoin the others later." Taking out one of his kunai the genin made a slash in one of the tree trunks lining the road. "There, now they'll know which way we've gone. Shall we?"

Ibitsu nodded and the two of them raced away. 

Several hours later, Tsu looked up from poking at the campfire that she had just gotten started to see two of her three students returning. Muddy, bedraggled, bruised, and dragging a very ill tempered looking goat behind them. She didn't rise from her crouch, her look mildly questioning.

"There was a cliff." Taihei said.

"And a river." Ibitsu continued.

"Quicksand."

"Swamp."

"OFF the road." Taihei concluded. "If he'd stayed on it it would have been a nice easy stroll in the sunshine."

"I'm sorry." Ibitsu said quietly.

"It's not you fault, Ibitsu-chan." Taihei said with a startled smile.

Toride, who had been tending the rest of the small flock of goats, snickered as her brother and teammate dragged their wayward goat over and tethered him to a tree.

"He's just going to chew through the rope, you know?" She said gleefully.

"That's probably true. But then it's YOUR turn to chase after him." Taihei pointed out, rising from tightening the last knot.

Toride turned and glared at the goat, who looked back, unrepentant, before lowering his head and beginning to work at the knot with his teeth.

Her brother and Ibitsu, in the meanwhile, returned to the fire and their sensei. She smiled slightly, standing. "Don't look so glum, you two. We'll get there tomorrow and then we'll be back home before you know it."

"Home." Taihei said feelingly, with a wistful smile. "Bed, hot bath, mother's cooking..."

"Something wrong with my cooking?" Tsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

Taihei and Ibitsu looked as one at the all too familiar pot of something very similar to but not quite stew bubbling over the fire. It glooped in a brown way. 

"Of course not, sensei." Ibitsu interjected hurriedly.

Tsu didn't look convinced as she raised her head and called to Toride. "Stop terrorizing that goat, Toride-kun. Dinner is almost ready."

All three heard the hastily muffled groan as Toride approached the fire in the growing dark. "Stew?" She asked, though it was obvious she already knew the answer. "What kind?" She continued suspiciously.

"Squirrel."

Before the eyes of her three companions Toride turned the most interesting shade of green, her eyes widening in what seemed to be alarm. "Squirrel?" She almost squeaked.

Tsu nodded, concerned.

Toride turned greener, and clapped her hand over her mouth. Something like 'scuse me' emerged from behind her fingers before she wobbled quickly back off into the darkness.

Tsu turned back to her remaining students. "Tell me, honestly, is my cooking really that bad?"

Taihei exchanged a glance with Ibitsu. "It's... better than mine?" He said carefully.

"I see," Tsu replied then made to continue before a sound in the darkness drew her attention. All three tensed.

"You! Hey you! I know you're here!"

"It's just Toride." Taihei sighed.

"But who in kami's name is she calling?" Tsu turned to Ibitsu. "See anything?"

"No, sensei." She replied. "There's no one there but Toride."

Toride returned an hour later, just as the others were stretching out in their bedrolls. She looked grim.

"Whatever is wrong, Toride-kun?" Tsu asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

Toride turned. Perched on her wrist was a small red squirrel. "This is Omai."

"No more squirrel for dinner. Got it." Tsu nodded, rolled over and dropped into sleep.

"Either of you have anything to say?" Toride demanded of her teammates as the squirrel ran up her arm and nestled against her neck.

"Nope, not a thing." Taihei replied with a smile that he prudently kept covered under the pretense of pulling his blankets up to his nose.

"The goat's gone again." Said Ibitsu. She hesitated then continued. "Your turn." Before hiding herself in her bedroll.

... 


	7. Sensei's Unexpected Mission

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei

Chapter 7: Sensei's Unexpected Mission

The delivery of the goats went surprisingly smoothly. As payment had already been rendered there wasn't even a need to dicker over the money. Toride felt that it was all rather anti-climactic and, in her mental list, decided that delivering goats ranked even above weeding on her hated task scale. The stupid things refused to be intimidated, for one thing, and she didn't dare make an example of one of them. Sensei had been very clear on that.

Omai chattered at her from a nearby tree and she looked up.

"Almost seems as if he's talking, sometimes." Her brother commented cheerfully.

"Yeah, almost." Toride replied cautiously.

"He's so cute." Ibitsu sighed. She'd never been able to have a pet.

"He's a mangy rodent." Toride said matter-of-factly. "Now shut up."

"Oneechan..."

Sometimes she thought her brother did that on purpose, just to rile her up. She was ALMOST correct. As a matter of fact, he ALWAYS did it to rile her up. It was one of his little amusements.

A minute later Tsu returned from talking with the proud owner of the goats and separated them without even a raised eyebrow. "I got us a room with our client. But we're on our own for dinner."

"Okonomiyaki!" Toride crowed, waving her knives in the air with a little jig of manic delight.

"You two all right with that?"

Taihei shrugged his agreement and smiled. Ibitsu nodded. Both were thinking gratefully of ANYTHING for supper that was NOT stew.

Tsu named a place. "They have good food there. And I'll meet you back here."

Taihei paused and looked back over his shoulder. "You're not coming with us, sensei?"

"No. I'm not." She replied in a tone that said she was not going to tell them why she wasn't. She gave a little wave. "Later." And vanished.

"Okonomiyaki" Toride said longingly.

"We get it, Tori-chan." Taihei smiled. "Come on, Ibitsu. Let's get Tori-chan fed before she decides to start in on one of us."

"Human meat, yum." Toride said in a low, sinister voice. "Call me 'chan' again and I'll have you as a topping."

"Noted." Taihei laughed as Ibitsu shrank behind him in sheer terror.

Tsu stood on a nearby rooftop and tested the wind. She could feel it, even now, even after she had told herself that she had closed her heart to him. That pull that had always before led her to his side was relentless.

West. He was no longer in the village. He was injured, but only slightly. But still, he was in pain.

"Damn it!" She growled as her heart continued its relentless tugging. "Leave me alone!"

It had only been a few months, and yet it felt like a year, maybe two since they had last parted.

She crouched and put her head in her hands. "Leave me be, Shoufuu."

With an effort she stood and turned her back on the west wind.

Her students served as a distraction, for a while. But there was that breaking point where she knew she couldn't pretend anymore that everything was normal.

"I need a drink." That was the only thing that would slacken the string that seemed to connect them. The one that let her know he was thinking of her. Missing her, maybe. But she didn't know if she could ever forgive him.

"One drink couldn't hurt." She muttered. A moment later and the rooftop was empty. 

"Sensei? Are you all right?"

Taihei was very concerned as she made no move to respond, just stared off into the west, her gaze blank and unfocused, swaying slightly on her feet.

"Sensei?"

He was glad that the girls had already gone off to take advantage of the open air baths. He had decided to take a walk first, so he wouldn't fall asleep in the soothing water as he had done once before on a full stomach.

"Sensei!" He said loudly.

She started and seemed to refocus before looking at him. In a moment she looked normal again, though still a bit unsteady. "Something wrong, Taihei-kun?"

He looked at her, his brow knitted. He wasn't smiling. "Not with me."

"I should have known I couldn't fool you, Taihei-kun." She said with a resigned tilt to her head. "But it's nothing for you to worry about."

"Have you been drinking again, Sensei?"

"Only a few. But..." Her own brow knitted and her gaze turned once again to the west. "It hasn't helped."

"Sensei, I..."

There was a crash and the sound of screaming erupted from behind them and the two turned, breaking into a run.

"The baths at our client's inn." Tsu said shortly.

"Yes." Taihei loosened his kunai in their holster. Tsu-sensei had her red fan out, and her left hand hovered over the holster that contained the blue one. He hadn't even seen her draw it.

"It might be Toride." He said with a worried smile.

"That's what concerns me..." Tsu replied grimly. 

They found Ibitsu standing outside the entrance to the inn, carefully refraining from looking around, her face beet red. The reason for this was that she, and the half dozen men around her, were clad only in hastily drawn on towels. A few of them still dripped suds onto the hard packed dirt road. The men all had shocked and bemused looks on their faces, as though they weren't entirely sure how they had gotten there.

"What in the world is going on, Ibitsu-chan?" Tsu demanded as soon as she and Taihei had skidded to a stop in front of her.

Ibitsu stared up with a blank expression, her eyes wide in her red face. Then she looked over and saw Taihei. With a squeak she came back to herself and, clutching her wet towel tighter around herself, which Taihei could not help noticing, did nothing to help with concealment, looked frantically around for a place to hide.

"Here, Ibitsu-chan." He said with a kind smile, taking off the shirt he wore over his fishnet undershirt and draping it around her shoulders. "You look cold."

She mumbled something that sounded vaguely like a 'thank you' and clutched the shirt harder around herself.

"Explanation, now." Tsu broke in.

"T-toride-san thought since they wouldn't let her into the men's bath there should be m-mixed bathing. So s-so she...broke the wall d-down. Everyone s-started screaming, and all the ladies started throwing things at the men, and they ran away, and I t-thought I should explain about T-toride so I f-followed. And...and...OHMYGOD SENSEI! I'm STANDING IN THE STREET WITH A BUNCH OF MEN WEARING ONLY A TOWEL!" She shrieked as she caught up with her explanation and bolted back inside.

"Wow." Tsu murmured. "I leave you alone for a couple hours..."

"We need you, Sensei." Taihei said with a serious smile. "This just proves it."

Tsu was silent for a moment. Then she looked down at her student and smiled, her blue eyes warm for the first time in months. With a sigh she reached out and ruffled his green forelock.

"Damage control?" Taihei asked with a grin.

"Damage control." Tsu groaned.

Toride was yawning the next morning as she joined her team in the road outside the inn. After a stern lecture from her sensei she had spent most of the night repairing the barrier between the men's and women's bath. Tsu had refused to let the other two lend a hand, so now Toride was grumpy, and tired and sulky.

This was not a good combination.

But still, Toride was at least slightly cowed by her sensei's anger and even a little by her disappointment. So she had repaired the fence without complaining, at least out loud.

Tsu, in her turn, was equally tired. After settling her discipline onto Toride's shoulders she had had to find Ibitsu where the girl had secreted herself and took a good hour persuading the girl that being seen out in the street clad only in a towel surrounded by men in equal states of unclothed-ness was not all so bad as she thought it was. It took her another hour to persuade the girl to leave the storeroom and show her face in public again.

It was only after she began stripping off her own clothing while heading out the door that she convinced her student to come with her to preserve her sensei's dignity. Tsu was just glad that she hadn't had to go through with it. She wasn't nearly drunk enough.

When she and Ibitsu, both fully clothed, returned to the inn's common room the women, who, now that it was over, thought it had been a very good joke and made such a kind fuss over the pale girl that it didn't take her long to forget all about it. Aside from Taihei the men had been rather conspicuously absent.

Then there had been the matter of settling the damages with the innkeeper, and not getting thrown out into the street in the middle of the night, which truly would have been a bother.

But fortunately it had been settled in enough time for Tsu, after making another check on Toride's progress, to lay her head down for perhaps half an hour before the inconveniently rising sun cast its repulsively cheerful rays over her ill-rested face. It could have been worse, she mused, rubbing fitfully at her temples. She wasn't sure how, exactly, and speculating all too often led to finding out just how much worse so she cut herself off on that line of reasoning before it went irrevocably far.

Her hand dropped down and felt in her pack where there was a new and rather unwelcome lump. For the innkeeper had wished, rather than accepting money, which was perhaps fortunate since Tsu was running low, for a favor instead. Tsu's eyes, already squinted against the light, narrowed further. She had a bad feeling about it. The innkeeper had been all too eager to press this package into her hands, and rather less than eager to tell her of its contents.

It was his right, of course. And she wouldn't even think of peeking, well, not too seriously, anyway, but still...

She forced her eyes open wider and looked ahead to where Ibitsu and Taihei were strolling along, lost in conversation, Toride slogging behind them, her shoulders round with fatigue and occasionally yawning hugely.

Having made sure she hadn't lost them, which was a small worry that plagued her from time to time, she looked around herself. Not that she wasn't always aware of her surroundings, a ninja had to be, but now she paid them more attention. She could feel tension building up between her shoulder blades, and hoped that they would reach the village soon. Missions unsanctioned by the konohagakure always made her uneasy. All too often they were more trouble than they were worth.

And she had a sinking feeling that this would be one of them.

"Hey, sensei!"

"Yes, what is it, Toride-kun?"

"Are you sure this is the right road?"

Tsu quirked an eyebrow upward. "We're, thanks to your little stunt, making a small detour."

"We have to make a delivery for the inn keeper, Toride." Taihei provided. "Weren't you paying attention?"

"No. I was sleeping." Toride said crossly. "Sleeping and walking. I don't remember anything that happened before at least noon, thanks very much."

"A good trick." Tsu replied. "But probably not very useful. What if someone had attacked us?"

Toride sniffed. "I would've woken up, obviously."

"A kunai in the back can be a good wake up call." Taihei supplied cheerfully. Toride glared at him. She still hadn't forgiven him for sleeping while she was working on repairing the damage to the fence, which certainly hadn't been HER fault. It was the stupid innkeeper's fault for not having a mixed bath in the first place. 

Toride huffed and turned her face away from her brother and grumbled a bit to Omai, who was perched on her shoulder, his tail whipping jauntily.

"So what is this package, anyway, sensei?"

"Not sure," Tsu replied. "The client decided not to tell me. But it's pretty small, and a little heavy. Could be a lot of things."

Taihei paused, Ibitsu stopping alongside him, and watched his sensei catch up. "I'm not sure I like that." He said when she drew even, falling into step with her.

"Good. Neither do I." She agreed. "Trust those instincts, and hope they come to nothing."

"But be prepared in case they do not." Taihei replied.

"Exactly."

"Do you know how far it is to this village, sensei?"

"We should reach it by nightfall, Ibitsu-chan." Tsu replied. "I've been keeping my eyes open but I think it's time to step it up a bit. There's something in the air that I don't like. I'm going to take rear. You take fore, Taihei. Ibitsu take the sides."

"What about me?" Toride demanded.

"You...try to stay awake, and be prepared to cover any angle." Tsu sighed. "I may be a little paranoid, but just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean there aren't ninja in the woods about to attack us." With a last long look she nodded and fell back a bit, watching her charges as they walked ahead of her, all wary attention. A little paranoia could be a good thing.

The attack came almost without warning. But to those with ears to hear and eyes that were alert to such signs, there were a few small heralds. A few branches rustling against the wind, the whisper of an alien smell. Omai chittering madly on Toride's shoulder as she slumped along in an apparent half-comatose state. Ibitsu's warning hand gestures. Then they were set upon.

'Not even ninja..." Tsu thought in disgust as she twirled, her fans appearing in her hands as if by magic. Common brigands by their motley dress and disorganization. They hadn't even tried to take her out before letting her know of their presence. Maybe not worth killing, but certainly worth questioning. So the blue fan stayed closed even as she used it to jab at one of her attacker's chakra points, causing him to drop his knife and temporarily disabling his chakra nets.

The other was rather more formidable, so she was forced to focus her attention upon him, leaving her students to shift for themselves.

Taihei, alerted by Ibitsu's soft taps on his shoulder before the attack, was smiling as he confronted his own attacker. After the initial 'surprise' flurry of moves the two had separated and were circling each other. The brigand seemed mildly disconcerted as he was faced with Taihei's unwavering smile, a disconcertation that only grew as the smile widened and Taihei's eyes sparkled with good-nature and warmth to all his fellow man. The two stopped circling, as the brigand faced Taihei, his mouth dropping open without him knowing it, his eyes trapped in Taihei's gentle, hypnotizing gaze.

"Yes," He finally said, "There's no need for us to attack each other, brother. You can see that, can't you? Such a nice day."

"Nice day." The brigand repeated numbly as Taihei approached him and gently took his notched sword from his hand.

Taihei smiled brightly at the scruffy man. And against his will, the man smiled back.

"I really do regret this, you know." Taihei said as he bound the man's hands and his arms to his sides.

"No need, no need." The man said dazedly. "I quite understand."

When Taihei was done, he looked up and surveyed the others.

Toride was standing over her opponent, nudging him with her toe, a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "Hardly worth the bother," She declared when her eyes met her brother's and hastily looked away. He nodded and looked for Ibitsu. She was standing at the other side of the clearing, a clean kunai in her hand.

"They didn't even bother with me." She quavered as she approached, giving the men on the ground a wide berth.

"That's fine Ibitsu-chan." Taihei smiled. "You did amply enough with your warnings."

Ibitsu flushed and examined her fascinating shoes.

"Sensei?" Taihei asked.

Ibitsu looked up with a start, then looked wildly around. "She was right behind us."

"I'm right here." Came Tsu's familiar voice, and the three relaxed as she walked out of the woods, dragging one of the brigands behind her by the collar of his scruffy jacket. Of the other there was no sign. "Well done. All alive?"

"Yes, Tsu-sensei." Ibitsu said.

Tsu nodded. "Then I suppose it's time to see what they wanted."

...

The other two were rather out cold and the fourth unaccounted for, so they were forced to start with the one Taihei had taken out. The boy warned them that he might not know much, since he had been taken down rather easily by with his talent, which worked best on the easily swayed and weak-minded. He hadn't even used a tenth of the power that had been necessary to draw his sensei out of her despair to subdue him.

The bandit or whatever he was looked up blearily to find Taihei smiling down at him. "Hey there! Your buddies all seem to be a little indisposed."

The bandit looked around, then seemed to notice that he had been tied up. "What...?!"

"Oh that? Nothing to worry about." Taihei assured him. "We just wanted to make sure that you stayed around for a little chat."

"Not gonna say nothin'." The bandit replied sullenly, ignoring or unaware of the offense of the double negative.

"Quite right." Taihei said with a smile.

"Enough 'good ninja'." Toride snarled, coming into the man's line of sight, a quite different sort of grin stretching her mouth and showing the whiteness of more teeth than there should have been. "My turn."

The man screamed, and even Toride was taken aback. "Get it away! Get it away!" The three genin and their sensei, who was standing guard over the other prisoners, followed his gaze to find Omai, still perched on Toride's shoulder, at the other end of it, his furry tail jerking threateningly.

"Well," Taihei said, gulping down his laughter as Toride fell practically into hysterics beside him and had to catch her brother's arm to keep from falling over. Omai kept his beady black gaze fixed on the cowering bandit. "I believe we can come to some sort of an arrangement." 


	8. Sensei's Bad Day

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei. My original characters belong to me.

About Team 5:

Chapter 8: Sensei's Bad Day

Once threatened with squirrelly wrath it did not take long to get the would-be ambusher to divulge all he knew regarding the package that Tsu carried. One; it was there. And, two; they wanted it.

The Konoha ninja did not find this very helpful at all. As Taihei had suspected the man wasn't the brightest brick in the wall. The only helpful thing that they learned was that he was from the very village that they were heading towards.

At the end of their questioning Toride was all for unleashing Omai on the fellow but was denied. And so she had to content herself with walking along behind the bound man as they continued towards the village, prodding him whenever she felt he was being uncooperative, like when he breathed.

Tsu ignored this. She was becoming annoyed and all she really wanted to do was go back to her own village and her own apartment and her own things. She had thought before the mission began that it would help to get away from familiar things, but being constantly surrounded by others, even her (usually) beloved team, was proving to be very trying and she was looking forward to some quality brooding time without being questioned about it by well-intentioned adolescents.

As it was she could feel Taihei's eyes constantly upon her, and with his type of jutsu that could prove to be rather unsettling even at the best of times. The trip seemed to be wearing on Ibitsu as well. She had become rather withdrawn since the battle and resisted Taihei's best efforts at drawing her out. Tsu could understand that. It was a sobering thing to be passed by as having no threat and no consequence in battle.

She really was a sweet girl, despite everything.

"There it is! Is that it?" Toride looked back over her shoulder, pushing Omai's tail out of her line of vision.

"I imagine so, Toride-kun." Tsu said distractedly. Then, a moment later, she frowned, her brow knitting.

Ibitsu looked up disinterestedly, then back down at the path in front of her feet. Taihei glanced at her worriedly.

"I'm glad, sensei. It will be good to have this all over with so we can just get back to Konoha." The boy said with a smile.

"Agreed, Taihei-kun." Tsu replied, though the set of her face was still rather concerned. Taihei's smile became a little bemused, and he thought that perhaps he was missing something. Sensei was acting a bit strange, stranger than she had been recently.

"Have you been here before?" He asked softly, half to himself, and she slanted a look at him that spoke volumes even whilst saying nothing at all.

"A long time ago." She said, just as quietly.

"Neeee, Shoufuu-kun!"

He looked back over his shoulder, surprise briefly passing over his face. "Tsu-chan! I thought you were sleeping." He exclaimed even as he held out his arms to her. She, just barely out of adolescence, flung herself into their comforting strength.

"I had a dream, woke up and you were gone." She said, her voice muffled. "I don't like this place and I was worried."

He ruffled her hair, but she could tell without looking that he was distracted and not particularly happy. "You need to go back to the room, Tsu-chan."

She looked up at him, and found his face set in worrisome lines, but before she could open her mouth he kissed her briefly. "Go back to the room now, Tsu-chan. I promise I'll be back."

"Shoufuu-kun... I can't come with you?" Her heart seemed to have been bound in constricting metal bands, but when he shook his head she knew she mustn't interfere, even though this was supposed to be a holiday, just for the two of them. "I love you." Was all she could say.

His face twisted for a moment, as though he was holding back some overpowering emotion. "I know, Tsu-chan. Wait for me."

He hadn't been back in the morning. But she had waited. She had waited for three days, sitting in their room, looking out the window and watching for him. On sunset of the third day she saw him in the long shadows of the street, making his way back to her. Without a thought she had leaped out of the window, landing softly, by merit of her particular element, in the street and ran to him.

"Thank you for waiting, hime." He whispered as he pulled her close. She could feel the strumming tiredness in his body and realized he had not slept at all since he had left her. "We need to go. I don't like this place, either."

It was only later, when they were back in Konoha, in their special place, that he would tell her what had happened. After he told her, she held him close and did not let him go for a very long time. 

"Sensei, what are you doing?!" Toride cried as Tsu quickly knelt and rummaged in her pack, finally coming up with the package that the man had given her to deliver. Ignoring her student's cries she ripped it open with one of her kunai and dumped the contents into her hand.

"Kami..." I was a piece of wood, the manufacture as familiar to her touch as her lover's skin. And there was something inside. "Shit." She murmured, closing her fingers as Ibitsu came up beside her.

She was more than startled when the girl lay a kunai against her wrist, saying, "I'll take that, if you please," in a voice very much not her own. The kunai turned slightly, and Tsu's astonished fingers opened. With a nod the pale girl delicately plucked the item out of Tsu's palm. "Neither of you try anything, or I will cut her hand off," She said in a dispassionate voice without even looking at the two young genin.

They backed off slightly.

"And untie my friend." She said, moving her kunai so the point dug into the hollow of Tsu's throat.

"Ibitsu...chan?" Taihei asked.

The pale girl laughed quietly. Turning with Tsu, whose face had gone stony, still in her grip, she watched a silently fuming Toride at a gesture from her brother untie the brigand. At a nod from the pale girl, he ran off into the woods. It perhaps should have looked ridiculous, the tiny girl holding a kunai to the rather tall woman's throat, but something in 'Ibitsu's' face made it deadly serious.

Taihei met her eyes, something, he now realized, she had been avoiding ever since the fight. He muttered a word that would have had his mother very angry at him and reached back to grab his sister's wrist. The field that she had been generating vanished as his grip tightened. "Don't." He said sharply.

"Wise boy." 'Ibitsu' said sweetly. "Your companion is safe for now. Do nothing and she will eventually be released. Mostly whole." And with that, the imposter vanished. The kunai Taihei had thrown thunking soundly into the tree trunk she had been standing in front of, brushing by Tsu by a mere millimeter.

"Why didn't you let me attack her!?" Toride shrieked. "You let her get away!"

"Because I didn't know if it was her or someone else. Not until just before she disappeared." Taihei snapped.

"If she was just under a jutsu we could have hurt Ibitsu." Tsu-sensei added, her jaw clenched.

"What did she mean 'mostly whole'?" Toride demanded as Taihei stalked over to the tree and yanked his kunai loose.

"Her eyes." He said in a still, quiet voice, not turning around. "They're going to take her eyes."

"It was a set-up." Tsu snarled to herself, her hand clenching and unclenching on the grip of her blue fan. "All of it. He thought it had been taken care of. I guess he was wrong." Her last comment went unnoticed as Toride digested the horror of this realization.

"Her EYES? They're going to...?"

"No. They're not." Taihei turned. He was not smiling. He was in fact as far from smiling as it was possible for a person to get. His sister quailed at the fury she saw in his face. "I won't let them." He said in a quiet voice. "I won't let anyone hurt Ibitsu-chan." 

Tsu said. "We'll get her back."

"I know we will, sensei." Taihei replied even as he settled his pack securely on his back. Toride stood silently behind him.

Without another word the three of them headed into the woods.  
Toride had long been the best judge of her brother's moods. As had been noted before it was a matter of survival. She had seen Taihei extremely happy, and extremely sad, and one time only, very very angry. But she, in all her experience, had never seen her brother as furious as he was while they chased through the woods after the fleeing bandit.

He took point, and she stayed prudently behind him, well out of the way of his line of sight. With looks and gestures she tried to warn sensei to do the same, but sensei didn't pay any attention. She just hoped that Taihei wouldn't do anything stupid, for as powerful as he was when enraged he was still in no way a match for a full-fledged jounin like sensei.

"Shouldn't we split up?" She risked yelling once.

"No." Sensei yelled back.

Well, it was a short and sweet reply, anyway. She grumbled something similar to Omai, who chattered and looked behind.

"Someone following?" She asked him. He chattered a negative. "Well, keep me posted, anyway."

And so they kept on, until Taihei came to an abrupt stop, Sensei beside him. Toride took another branch before she could do likewise, and Taihei glared at her. She made herself look as small as possible and crept around the tree trunk.

"There he is." Taihei said very quietly. "I don't see 'Ibitsu'. Damn!"

"Guess he wasn't stupid enough to lead us to their hideout."

Toride looked down, and nodded as Omai chattered in her ear. When she looked up again her brother was staring at her. "What?" She squeaked.

"What did he say?"

"Well, something like 'two nuts short for winter, but hides from the hawk's eyes', I guess." Her eyes widened and she clapped her hand over her mouth.

"What does that mean?" He asked, ignoring her horror. "TELL ME."

She couldn't help it and squeaked again. "That he's dumb, but still smart enough to know not to do something stupid like lead us to his leaders." She extrapolated.

"So you can understand him. Can he understand you?" His eyes were burning into her and she squirmed as she nodded. Then he told her what he wanted Omai to do, and she couldn't help but smile for just a moment.

The bandit puffed as he paused for a second, leaning against the tree. A branch cracked and he looked up and then around fearfully. He looked down, relieved at seeing nothing but leaves and trees. This, was a mistake. A moment later something small and furry landed on his head, sharp claws digging into his scalp and a loud horrible screeching filling his head.

"SQUIRREL!" He screamed. And ran.

Omai screeched louder and enjoyed the ride. This was fun. He was glad big sister had told him he could.

In the trees the ninja followed.

Ibitsu woke in a cold dark place. This in itself wasn't too much of a surprise. She was rather used to waking up in cold, dark places. What was rather a surprise was that the last thing she remembered was being in the woods with her ninja team, and they were about to be attacked. She didn't remember being PUT in the cold dark place, or how she had gotten there. Being tied up was also something rather different than the usual.

She opened her eyes, and cowered back against the dank walls with a small cry at the sudden overload of info from her left eye. Her glass was gone and to top all of this off she now had a horrible headache. This was not shaping up to be one of her better days.

Cautiously she opened her right eye again, and let it get adjusted to the room. Two people had carried her in here, men. They had tied her up. Then a third presence had come in, or perhaps had already been in the room and taken her eyeglass. This one was harder to discern. She thought it may have been a woman. That was all she could tell with that.

With a deep breath she centered herself, prepared for the pain, and opened her other eye. She could feel the skin of her face tighten, and her pulse throbbed loudly in her temple, but she ignored this and focused on the trails of the three who had been in the room, following them out the door and into an adjoining room. There the three lingered, as well as two others. They seemed to be walking around something in the middle of the room. Perhaps it was a table or maybe something on the floor. She couldn't tell until one of them set something on it that it was raised off the floor. A table then.

Two of the people who had been in her room were leaning against a wall, but the third, the one she thought was a woman, was very involved with the activities at the table.

Ibitsu took a very deep breath and expended more of the chakra in her eye, feeling a slight release of the tension in her face as she did so. Now she was looking outside, but there seemed to be no one nearby. She turned her head, scanning the area surrounding the building she seemed to be in. Four more men were outside, at the western side of the building. Wait. Now there were five. And... a squirrel? 


	9. Sensei's Battle

AT5 Chapter 9 : Sensei's Battle

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei, I'm just borrowing his world for a while.

They took the three outside quick and fast so as to prevent the chance of a warning outcry.

Ibitsu closed her eyes as the pain became too much to bear, and scrunched herself down into the corner as small as she possibly could. She was very good at doing that, and as she did so she could almost hear her mother's voice, criticizing, always criticizing. Her father's dismissals. This was why she hated the dark, why she hated to sleep in her own quiet room. It was never quiet for long due to the voices in her head. At least when she was sleeping in Toride's room there were the snores from the other girl to drown them out. And there was the quiet peacefulness that Iouka emanated even when she was just in the house.

But here it was just too quiet, and she was frightened. She didn't know where she was, or why she was brought here, but she knew it was for nothing good. She had tried struggling out of the ropes that bound her, but they were too tight and well knotted.

"Sensei..." She whimpered. "Taihei-kun..." Then as an afterthought she added Toride and even Omai to her plea. "Come soon, please."

They were rather surprised to find no wards surrounding the building, but they could also feel a great power beginning to build somewhere inside. It did not feel right, and the ninja could not suppress a shudder, particularly when Toride looked into her brother's eyes and saw something dangerous burning there.

Ibitsu opened her eye as the pressure in the air changed and looked up to see someone silhouetted in the doorway. She had to blink her eye a few times in order to let it adjust to the sudden light after so much darkness.

After a moment she was able to tell that it was the third person who had been in the room with her, the one who had taken her eyeglass, the one that she had been unable to read properly. Her eye widened in astonishment. The woman, for she could tell now that it was a woman, looked just like her. She couldn't hold in an astonished gasp.

"Don't flatter yourself, oujosama." The woman said in a scathing voice that also sounded a lot like her own, though Ibitsu had never spoken in that tone to anyone. She had never even thought to do so. "It's just that it hasn't worn off all the way. Believe me, I don't like looking like a little sheep like you."

"Sheep." Ibitsu murmured through her gag.

"Not a bad body, though." The doppelganger said, her hands moving down her sparse curves in a way that made Ibitsu blush furiously. "Or it would be if it had gotten the chance to grow up."

At this Ibitsu felt all the blood that had rushed to her cheeks rush away again, leaving her face dead white. This woman was talking as though Ibitsu were already dead.

"Be careful." Sensei whispered. "There's got to be a trap somewhere." Her students nodded, both wishing that Ibitsu were there with them, but for different reasons.

Ibitsu could have told them where the trap was instantly, but Ibitsu wasn't there.

Toride could hear her brother grinding his teeth and hoped with all her might that this would be over. The sooner the better. Their mother would be most upset if they had to visit the dentist-nin after this was all over. 

"Now, oujosama, it's time to go." The non-Ibitsu said with an unpleasant smile. With a touch of her finger the ropes reconfigured themselves and Ibitsu was pulled to her feet, then to a stumbling walk as the woman beckoned her out of the dark room and into the forbidding light.

"This is so strange." Sensei murmured. "Where are the wards?"

Taihei said nothing, his attention snagged by a shadow standing in the darkness. The shadow nodded, then disappeared at Taihei's return nod.

"They're taken care of," The boy said.

"Taken care of?" Sensei demanded quietly. "Taken care of by whom?"

"Someone who wants us to succeed." He replied. "Let's go get her."

Ibitsu looked around the room one-eyed as she was tugged through the doorway. What she could see did not look promising. It was a rather large room, occupied by single table in the precise center of its empty floor. Scrawled on the ceiling and walls and floor, all leading to the table were runes of some ward, and they glowed with a pulsing, unwholesome light. At the four cardinals the other people she had seen were positioned, their hand clasped in hand signs, the low murmur of their chant filling the air.

All in all it had the feel of a sacrificial chamber, and Ibitsu, struggling against the inexorable pull of her captor, had no doubt as to who the intended sacrifice was to be.

"What do you want of me?" She demanded shrilly.

"Isn't it obvious?" The false Ibitsu said, "You have a bloodline limit. We want it."

"You...want my eyes?"

"Just the one would be sufficient."

Ibitsu stared at her, even as her feet dragged her towards the table. Then she burst out laughing, a touch hysterically, but laughing all the same.

"My eye?" She strangled.

"It's strange that you find this funny." The false Ibitsu said with a quizzical tilt of her eyebrow.

"That you would do this to take the one thing I hate most." Ibitsu shrieked. "Take it! Take it! I shall be glad to be rid of it!"

The false Ibitsu stared, taken aback.

"I wish you all the luck in the world!" Ibitsu screamed, now in full blown hysteria. "Invest in painkillers!"

The false Ibitsu gasped.

Hands grasped Ibitsu and pulled her into a familiar embrace, a familiar body. "Ibitsu-chan, what a thing to say." Sensei said, cradling her gently in her arms.

In the next moment Taihei was at the false Ibitsu's back, his kunai at her throat. He looked as though to have every intention of using it but had been told not to and it was irksome. Ibitsu stared at him through her hysterical tears, her feet still trying to pull her to the table in the middle of the room, even with Sensei's strength surrounding her.

"Kill me and it can't be stopped!" The false Ibitsu shrieked.

Ibitsu looked around the room and found the other four enemies trapped in spheres of Toride's force-fields. Even so, their hands remained clasped and their chanting had not faltered.

Taihei's kunai moved, drawing a thin red line against the woman's throat. "Didn't you hear me?" She cried, her eyes, so like Ibitsu's wide and suddenly fearful.

"He can't hear you." Toride gasped from where she was standing, supporting herself against the wall. Making and sustaining four such large force-fields was her utter limit. As it was she had barely enough chakra left to keep her standing. And not helping was the eldritch chakra running now through the runes covering the room. "He's far past that point now. Congratulations."

"Taihei-kun!" Ibitsu gasped.

His eyes looked at her, just a flicker of recognition passing through the blue irises that seemed too wide. And suddenly, and for the first time, Ibitsu was almost frightened of her nakama.

"Stop this." Sensei said, her voice cold. "Stop this now, Baikin."

The false Ibitsu stiffened in Taihei's hold, her hair darkening slightly, her eyes turning to some ugly color between orange and violet. It seemed the jutsu was wearing off. "How do you know my name?"

"I realized who you must be when I recognized the village we were heading to." Sensei lifted one arm from Ibitsu and reached in her pocket. "And when I saw this." She opened her fingers to reveal a small round piece of smooth wood. It wasn't much to look at but at the sight of it Baiken gasped longingly, her fingers reaching out to it. Then she looked confused. "But, I took that from you."

"You thought you did." Sensei said pleasantly. "But I know the person who made this thing, and I know how to use that fact to my advantage"  
"Give it to me!"

"And why would I do something like that even if you asked?" Tsu's face hardened. "It's time for this to stop, Baiken."

"And as if I would stop just because you told me!" Baiken screamed. She snapped her fingers and the runes flared. Ibitsu found herself torn from Tsu's grasp.

"Sensei!" She cried, grasping for Tsu's fingers. They slipped away, and Ibitsu found herself being carried inexorably towards the table in the middle of the room. At the same time, the bubbles of chakra around the men at the four corners burst and they attacked, two on Toride, and two on Tsu.

Tsu turned on her attackers, unable to help her student.

As Ibitsu cried in terror recognition dawned in Taihei's eyes and he thrust Baiken roughly to the floor before darting after Ibitsu. "Ibitsu-chan!" He reached her just before she touched the table, and, grabbing her, turned so that he hit the table instead.

Then the runes there flashed and he screamed.

"Taihei-san!" She cried as he slumped to the floor. "Taihei-san!"

"What a pity." Baiken said from behind her. "But it's still not too late. I will have it, I will have them both!"

Then she froze. She looked down to find the kunai Ibitsu had taken from Taihei's limp hand protruding from her stomach. Then looked up to find the hard orange eyes of the girl who had it in her grasp.

"I...won't forgive you." Ibitsu said. "Stop this."

"No." Baiken gasped, her hand covering Ibitsu's on the kunai. "Give it back."

"Stop this and you can have it!" Tsu yelled over her shoulder. "You can have one or neither. Your choice, Baiken!"

Baiken stopped for one agonizing moment.

Ibitsu felt her fingers tighten over hers, and Baiken looked down at her with longing in her eyes. Then they closed and she spoke one word. The runes stopped glowing, and the pull that Ibitsu had still been feeling stopped. "Stop, everyone." Baiken said. "It's over."

The men who had been fighting Tsu stopped, uncertain.

"Keep an eye on then, Toride." Tsu said softly as she walked to the center of the room, her blue fan still in hand. In the other she clasped that small piece of wood. "Never let it be said I do not keep my word."

Baiken looked up. "Can you..." She coughed, slumping slightly. "Can you release it for me?"

'She's dying.' Ibitsu thought. 'I've killed her. I've killed her!'

"Move back, Ibitsu." Tsu said, taking her grip gently off the bloody kunai she still held. "See to Taihei."

Ibitsu's eyes widened. Taihei! She turned and took his head in her hands, relieved to find he was still breathing.

"Kai." Tsu said, pressing the small piece of wood into Baiken's hand. In that instant a glow seemed to come over the woman, and then another woman was standing where she had been. She was rather tall and not terribly pretty, with a thin face and sunken cheeks. But in her eyes, and on her face for a moment was a look of such bliss that made her truly beautiful before her hand slipped from Tsu's and she fell lifeless to the ground.

The look on Tsu's face was one of pity as she turned and knelt beside Taihei and Ibitsu. She reached out a hand and felt Taihei's pale face. "He'll be okay. But we need to get him back to the village quickly." With a soft sound she gently pushed Ibitsu away and gathered Taihei onto her back. Grunting, she hefted a few times to settle him.

"Taihei?" Toride was suddenly there. Ibitsu looked over and found the four remnants all surrounded by one chakra shield. They packed close together, trying to avoid touching the glowing sphere. With a timid hand Toride touched her brother's back. Her face was as pale and drawn as his. Her eyes were afraid.

"He'll be all right, Toride-kun." Tsu said confidently. "Don't worry."

Ibitsu turned suddenly. "Voices." She said. She opened her left eye. "Ten people."

"Enemies?" Tsu asked.

"I...can't tell." Then she closed her eye with a look of pain.

"Toride, see if you can find her glass." Tsu-sensei said. Then when Toride made no move to leave her brother repeated the command sharply. Toride jerked, then left the room with a small angry bow.

"Sensei?" Ibitsu askedin a small voice when she had gone. "What was that thing you gave Baiken-san?"

Tsu looked at the fallen woman. "Her true identity."

"Her...true...?"

"Baiken had a unique ability. She was able to take the forms of other people, and she could hold them as long as possible as long as she had something of theirs. Like she was planning on doing with your eye. Several years ago a move was made to put a stop to it, and her true form was taken and sealed in that piece of wood by... by a member of the ANBU. As long as it was sealed she was unable to retake her own form." Tsu nudged the woman's body with her toe. "I guess in the end the desire to be herself overcame her desire for even the power that you could give her." Tsu turned. "Ibitsu-chan, what's wrong?"

"Sensei... Sensei, I killed her." Ibitsu looked down at the woman. "I killed her."

Tsu nodded her head. The first was always the hardest to get over. "You did what you had to, and I'm very proud of your quick action."

"But I...I was so angry. She hurt Taihei-san..." She looked up, and her eyes were swimming with tears.

"Ibitsu...chan..."

Both women started. "Tai...Taihei!"

His eyes were very blurry and unfocused, but he seemed to see her. "You're okay. I'm so...happy." Then he smiled, and lost consciousness again.

Ibitsu burst into tears, and Tsu, with a smile, stroked her pale hair with her free hand as she sobbed and wiped her eyes on her bandage-wrapped arms.

She was still crying when Toride pelted back into the room, excitedly waving Ibitsu's eyeglass around on its strap. "It's okay! They're Konoha ninja!"

"How in Kami-sama's name did they know?" Tsu asked in wonder.

Only Taihei perhaps knew, but he wasn't in any condition to say anything at all. 

... 


	10. Sensei's Sick Student

AT5: Chapter 10: Sensei's Sick Student

Taihei lay in a field of flowers, their scent tickling his nose as he lay basking in the warm sun. He squirmed, feeling something sharp under his back, but was otherwise too contented to move. The tickling grew worse, and he smiled, waiting for the inevitable sneeze to come. He opened his eyes a bit, prepared for the light of the sun but what he saw instead was, a squirrel.

This was not the most reassuring sight to wake to.

"Omai!" The squirrel was suddenly lifted from his narrow field of vision. "I told you to stay in my bag."

The tickling grew worse. And the removal of the squirrel revealed instead of the sun a fluorescent light.

Ah, the hospital.

But that still didn't explain that overwhelming scent of...

He sneezed. And sneezed. And sneezed.

Flowers.

"Taihei!"

He looked up blurrily, wiping at his watery eyes. "Morning, Toride-chan. Why am I in a flower shop?"

His breath gusted out as his sister practically tackled him back onto the bed with a fierce hug. His back hurt a bit as her weight pushed him into the mattress.

"Can't breathe...oneesan..." He managed to gasp out between sneezes and having the breath squeezed out of his lungs.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again," She whispered, ignoring him. She straightened, fixing him with a fierce stare and the finger point of doom. "And call me 'oneesan' again and I'll smother you with your own pillow, got it?"

He stared at her for a second before his habitual small smile broke into a huge grin. "Hai, hai." He sneezed again and she shot him a disgusted look while fetching him a tissue from the box on the bedside table and presenting it to her brother with ill grace.

"Blow your freakin' nose." She grumbled. "And since when are you allergic to flowers?"

"I'm not, in general." He shook his head and wiped his nose. "There's just so MANY. Where did they come from?"

"Your admirers, some of them." She grunted, moving to one of the bouquets and starting to systematically strip the petals from the stems. "I don't know why you're so popular. But the rest all came from..." She paused as the door slid open to reveal Ibitsu, a huge bundle of fresh flowers in her hands. "That one."

Ibitsu stopped dead at the sight of Taihei smiling at her, "You're, you're awake..." She quavered, her face partially hidden by tulips, jonquils, roses (red, white and pink), daisies, baby's breath, carnations, hibiscus, miniature sunflowers, lilies, iris, and lilac. It was a REALLY huge bouquet.

"That's supposed to be a good thing, Ibitsu." Toride said, and Taihei could tell that his sister's patience had been stretched a little thin while he was out. Of course since her patience wasn't very thick in the first place this was not a difficult thing to do.

"I'm sorry." She said, sniffling and hiding completely behind her flowers.

"There you go again." Toride persisted.

"I'm sorry."

"Argh!"

"I'm sorry."

"Ibitsu-chan."

Her head snapped up, a look like that of a wild animal trapped by a bright light in her eyes.

"Ibitsu-chan. Come here." Taihei repeated seriously.

She set her flowers on a free space and came hesitantly to the bed. "I'm so sorry, Taihei-san. It's all my fault," She whispered as she came to stand beside the bed. "It's all my fault you got hurt, Taihei-san. I'm so sorry..."

She flinched as he reached up and pulled her closer.

"Taihei...san?"

"You're safe, that's all that matters." He said softly as his arms wrapped around the timid girl and held her close.

She blushed hotly and couldn't look him in the eye when he let her pull away just enough so he could examine her face. "But, I..."

"You're safe. I'm happy." There was a pause. "When did you cut your hair?"

She lifted her eyes and stared into his, speechless until she realized belatedly that he'd asked her a question.

Toride, who had been watching this across the room, made a gagging noise. "I'm gonna be sick."

"I think there's probably a bowl here, somewhere." Taihei told her, never taking his eyes from Ibitsu's. "Try not to miss and make more work for the nurses."

Toride wrinkled her nose at him, feeling rightly that her point had been ignored. "I'm getting a juice." She announced loftily, snatching the bag where she had stashed Omai and stomping out of the room, grabbing a handful of sunflowers and stuffing them in the bag on the way. "Oh, hi, Sensei." Taihei heard her say out in the hall.

Ibitsu tried standing up but found that Taihei had no intention of letting her go, so she said. "Um...we didn't really notice until later..." (When her mother had pointed it out as looking ridiculous, she thought but did not say.) "They had cut off a piece of my hair. For the temporary transformation jutsu, sensei said. So sensei evened it out for me."

"I like it. It's cute."

She blushed and looked for something to hide behind.

"Nah, I'm just getting out of the way of the love fest." Toride said loudly.

Ibitsu jumped away from Taihei with a squeak.

They couldn't hear how sensei replied but Toride said. "Go ahead and interrupt. I just couldn't stand any more. Want a juice?" A pause. "All right, then. No, I won't let him out of the bag. I know animals aren't allowed in here." Another pause. "Omai just wanted to see if he was okay." This was a lot quieter. "He just did, all right!"

When Tsu appeared in the door, it was to the sight of Taihei sitting up in bed looking at her with a small smile and a blushing Toride on the opposite side of the room busily arranging flowers in yet another vase. It really did look like a flower shop. The Yamanaka flower shop must really be enjoying Taihei's convalescence, she thought, a little disappointed to have missed the 'love fest' Toride had griped about. 

"Good to see you awake, Taihei-kun." She smiled in return, coming into the room. "How do you feel?"

She saw Ibitsu start, and figured that the girl hadn't thought to ask.

"Not quite up to full power, Sensei." The boy replied, shifting a little. "How long was I out?"

Tsu sat on the edge of her student's bed. "Three days."

He nodded. Then he sneezed.

"The flowers?" Tsu asked. Ibitsu started again and looked at the two of them, horrified.

He nodded and sneezed again.

"Wah!" Ibitsu cried. "I'm sorry! I'll get rid of them right away!"

Tsu watched her in amusement. "Give them to some of the other patients," She suggested. Then to Taihei, "Your fans will be upset to find their presents gone when they come and visit you."

"Fans." Taihei sighed.

"Perhaps it's that mysterious smile of yours?" She suggested.

"You mean the one I use when I'm not paying attention and just want them to go away?"

She laughed. "Maybe. Tough being popular, isn't it?"

"Did you have the same problem, sensei?" He asked as Ibitsu rushed back in and out again with another armful of flowers.

"Not as such." She replied. "I was more of the type to make friends with the outcasts. They're more interesting and usually make better friends in the long run." She was silent for a long moment, and when Ibitsu returned for another load of flowers asked the girl if she could get some fresh water for Taihei's pitcher.

"Hai, sensei!" She rushed out again. Tsu watched her go.

"Who took down the wards, Taihei-kun?"

"Eh?"

She looked at him, her eyes intense, the blue of the tattoo under her left eye seeming to glow. "The wards around that place. Who took them down, Taihei-kun?" She asked again. "And there's no way our ninja could have found us that quickly if someone hadn't alerted them. Who took down the wards, Taihei-kun?" She demanded.

Taihei's mind raced. "I saw someone from our village in the woods, an ANBU."

She took a deep breath.

Ibitsu rushed into the room bearing a sloshing pitcher. "Here's your water, Taihei-san!"

He turned to her in relief. "Thank you, Ibitsu-chan. I was feeling a bit parched." And of course she had to fuss over him, getting him a glass and making sure he didn't spill any when his hand shook a little as he took it.

When she was sure he had had enough she turned her attention to the flowers again, and Taihei noticed that the only ones left where the ones the quiet girl had been carrying when she came in.

"That's enough, Ibitsu-chan." He said. "I want to keep those."

She glanced at him, flushed, and nodded, a small, timid smile playing around the corners of her mouth.

Tsu sat back with a defeated sigh.

All three heads turned when there was a clatter out in the hallway, and the sound of several high, girlish voices. Tsu stood abruptly. "I think I've bothered you enough for today," She said quickly. "Come, Ibitsu!"

"Hai, sensei!"

Taihei watched with wide eyes as they made for the window, opened it. "W-wait! Don't leave me with them!" He cried in real panic.

"Sorry, Taihei." Tsu called back over her shoulder, one foot on the windowsill. "Some battles a man must fight on his own."

"Nooooo! Take me with you!"

Ibitsu squeaked out one more, "I'm sorry." But she didn't even hesitate as the two jumped out the window a mere moment before the door opened, catching Taihei sitting up in bed, his arm stretched imploringly to the open window. He heard a female gasp and his head turned by slow degrees independent of the rest of his body.

"He's awake!" One girl cried.

"Taihei-kun!" Cried another.

They advanced in one girly mass. 

They all carried flowers.

Toride felt a shiver go down her back as she stood at the vending machine, and she turned, expecting an enemy standing behind her. But instead all she heard was a distant cry for help. It sounded like her brother.

She considered going to see what was wrong for all of a second before going back to considering her drink choices. Finally, with a cry of glee she spotted her favorite juice and pushed the button in what could only be called a pose of triumph.

She stood there and drank half the can, sharing a few furtive drops with Omai. He looked up at her from the depths of her bag, a sunflower clasped in his little paws, and chattered something.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She replied with a long-suffering sigh, and swaggered back through the halls to save her brother from the girly hordes.

"I'm injured, girls. I'm injured!" Taihei flailed as the girls fell upon him with over-effusive embraces and tears. They ignored him.

All through school these three had been the bane of his existence. Any and all hints that he was not interested had been ignored, and he had been forced to endure girlish giggles and squeals throughout all of his examinations. The experience did make it easier for him to use techniques whilst being distracted, as long as they were high-pitched distractions, but still. His attention had long been taken elsewhere.

And they didn't even seem to have any sort of rivalry between themselves for his attention. He sometimes wondered, and this was usually accompanied by night terrors, if they intended to share him.

"Taihei-kun, we were so worried!" Cried the one called Marui.

"So worried!" Echoed the one called Hibiki.

"We were!" Cried Konoe. "We brought flowers!"

"Where are the other flowers?" Asked Marui.

All three turned accusing looks on Taihei.

"Ah." He rubbed the back of his head. "Ah ha ha. We thought that since I had so many it would be nice to share with the patients that didn't have any at all."

They stared at him, then Konoe and Hibiki looked at Marui. She seemed to think this over for a second. Then her eyes went all misty and she clasped her hands under her chin. "That's so KIND! That's so like you, Taihei-kun!"

"Wonderful!" The other two exclaimed, taking their cue.

Taihei often wondered, when Konoe and Hibiki were away from Marui, if they just stood there staring at the wall until she came by to tell them what to do next. He couldn't know for sure as he had never seen the three separated. They were even on the same genin team, an unprecedented occurrence, as far as he could tell. But they all had graduated, so he imagined that the other two must have had a few brain cells to themselves.

That wasn't very nice, he chided himself... even if it WAS true.

"Oi."

The three girls froze and turned slowly, much as Taihei had when they'd appeared in the door.

Toride was leaning against the doorframe, regarding the girls down her nose as though they were insects. And not even particularly nice insects, like ladybugs or fireflies. No, this look said, these were cockroaches, or perhaps even silverfish.

"You botherin' my brother?"

The three stared at her.

Toride was, Taihei reflected, one thing that it seemed the girls had not figured into their equations concerning him. It all stemmed, perhaps, from that one time when they were in school and she had spread around the rumor that Taihei liked girls with crew-cuts. They had come to school soon after sporting their new do's, much to Toride's manic delight, and their trifold horror.

It had taken quite a while for their hair to grow back out. Since then they had viewed Toride as something like a venomous snake. A venomous snake that happened to be the sister of the boy that they had their crush on.

This had not managed to scare them off. But it did make them avoid Toride whenever possible. The best days they spent in school was when Toride was absent from the 'girly' classes, and each time, they hoped, deeply and sincerely, that she really WAS sick with a fatal disease.

It says something about these girls that they did not even feel guilty about hoping this.

It should also say something that when they had heard a rumor of a Yamanami in the hospital their first thought, gleeful thought, it should be noted, was that it was not Taihei but Toride.

And they wondered why Taihei didn't seem to like them as much as they liked him. 

"My injured brother who just recently returned to consciousness?" She enumerated, swaggering threateningly into the room.

"I AM feeling a bit tired." Taihei agreed, while silently blessing his mother for giving birth to his sister.

The girls were immediately all apology, to Taihei. They made their heartfelt wishes of quick recovery and farewell, to Taihei. And all but ran out of the room, making almost comical efforts to not even so much as brush against Toride, who didn't budge from in front of the door. She turned to watch them leave, a sneer of disgust on her face.

"You know, if you just told 'em off they might just leave you alone." She said.

"I tried that..."

"You were too nice about it." She sniffed. "So its partially your own fault."

He laughed ruefully.

"You look tired." She said, standing over his bed with her arms crossed.

"I am." He agreed.

"Well then you'd better sleep. Mom'll probably be by later."

Taihei lay back down, "That'll be nice." He closed his eyes. "But I'm really not...that...tired."

"Taihei?"

He was already asleep.

"Stupid brother." She sniffed while pulling his blankets up and arranging them around his shoulders. She lay a hand on his forehead before she left. "Get well soon."

"Sensei..."

"Yes, Ibitsu-chan?"

"Was it really all right to leave him like that?"

"He'll be fine." Sensei smiled and ruffled the pale girl's hair. Now that it was a lot shorter it had a tendency to curl that she found adorable. "He's a ninja, after all."

They paused in the shade beneath a stand of trees and Ibitsu watched as Sensei turned her gaze upwards, as though searching for something in the branches.

Ibitsu watched her, and was struck by how sad sensei looked behind her smile. 


	11. Sensei's Downtime

About Team 5

Chapter 11: Sensei's Downtime

Imagine if you will, a woman. Imagine her walking down the street, a bag of groceries on one arm, leaving the other free to wave at those who call out greetings, or, on the off chance that it is needed, to fend off attack. One never knows.

Imagine a woman walking with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"Tsu...?"

She turned, her eyes questioning.

"Tsu, it is you! Long time no see!"

"Iruka-kun?"

He laughed, scratching at the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yep, that's me." He spied the bag of groceries in her arm, nearly a matched set for the one in his own, even down to the loaf of French bread. "I see we had the same thought."

"The best deals are always on Wednesday!" They said in unison, looked at each other and laughed. And suddenly the years fell away and they were two students again, joking together after class.

They fell into step down the road.

"How've things been for you, Tsu?"

Tsu eyed him, but he gave her that same open, guileless look he always had on his face. She supposed that not EVERY person in the village had heard about her situation, and was grateful for that fact.

"I mean, since what happened."

She had been grateful too soon, apparently.

"I've been...dealing, I suppose." She said repressively, looking away.

"Is that so?" He said in a deceptively sweet tone. She snuck a peek at him, and found him with an unconvinced smile on his face.

She glared at him.

"Remember, Tsu. I'm a teacher. I can smell a lie coming a mile off. I get a lot of practice at it."

She sniffed. "Then you should join the interrogation squad."

"I'm happy where I am." He replied peaceably.

She snuck another look at him, and was rewarded with his face smiling in her direction. She sighed. "Happy, huh?"

"For the most part." He amended, looking around. His face lit up when he saw that they were passing Ichiraku Ramen. "I'm famished. You don't have anything that'll go bad quickly in that bag of yours, do you?"

"It'll keep for a while."

"Then let's eat here. My treat."

"Ramen, huh?" She sighed again, missing his concerned look as they ducked beneath the curtain and took seats at the counter after stowing their bags in a corner.

"Ah!" He said with a nostalgic smile after they had given their orders. "This is nice. I used to eat here all the time with Naruto."

"With Naruto? Uzumaki Naruto?" She asked. "Oh, that's right, he was one of your students. But I thought..."

He glanced at her and looked away, his gaze distant. "He's been off with Jiraiya-sama for almost a year now."

"He's with Jiraiya-sama?"

"That's right. He's training with one of the great sannin." Pride radiated off the man in waves.

Tsu regarded him. Last she knew, because as children they had confided in each other, Iruka had had no love for the boy. Tsu had never really had any contact with Uzumaki, and she wondered what had happened to cause Iruka's change of heart.

But even as she wondered this, Iruka began the tale. He continued it even after their orders had arrived, in between mouthfuls of noodles.

Both their bowls were empty by the time he had finished.

"Ah!" He exclaimed.

She jumped. "What is it?"

"You have a noodle on your chin, Tsu."

She flushed and scrambled for a napkin as he smiled benevolently at her. "I guess I got caught up. I had no idea. I mean... Mizuki-kun... I guess it was always hard to tell what he was thinking but I'd never imagined he had it in him."

Iruka looked saddened. "I had no idea, either. I always thought we were friends."

Tsu didn't think that there was anything she could say to that.

Iruka looked even glummer.

"I'm sorry, Iruka-kun." She said finally, patting his shoulder. Then she sighed, pushing her bowl with one finger and watching the patterns forming and reforming in the leftover broth. "Seems I never know what to say lately."

"Ah! I wasn't looking for..."

"No, it's all right."

He looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "You're not your usual self."

She gave him a small, unhappy smile. "I suppose not. It's like..." She leaned back on her stool, her arms folded behind her head. Iruka tried not to take in the view. "It's like, a piece of me is missing, or something."

"Do you want to talk about it?" He suggested diffidently.

She seemed to consider it, staring up into the misty recesses of the ramen kitchen. As she thought, a few more people straggled in and sat down to place their orders. "I don't think I've really talked to anyone over the age of twelve since it happened...the hokage not included. She mostly talked and I...well, I tried to listen. But not here," She stood abruptly and went to retrieve her bag. "Let's walk."

And she was out of the shop, leaving Iruka to scramble after her, then back to pay the bill, bowing apologetically, then out again, then back again to grab his bag, leaving Ayame, who had been manning the shop that day, and had been quietly listening to the conversation, disappointed that she wouldn't hear any more of it.

They walked for a while after he had caught up, Iruka patiently waiting for Tsu to be ready to tell her tale. He had heard some rumors, but he hadn't been sure what was fact and what was fabrication. He was waiting for quite a while, and he was just thinking that it would be nice to set down the bag of steadily heavier groceries when she began talking, not looking at him, not looking at anything in particular.

"I guess it all started, well, for me, when my tousan...when he invited me to accompany him on a trip. I suppose I should have known then that something was strange, but I was...I suppose that I was happy that he wanted my company for once. I guess, maybe...that he finally thought I was worthwhile...

"Ne, Iruka-kun?"

"Yes, Tsu?"

"My name..."

"Hai?"

"When I was born, my mother died. I don't think he ever forgave me for that. So when it came time for him to give me my name, he named me Tsukana... Tsukana, because I would be the last of the line. I was to him, the end of the Kazaguruma line. 'Grave of the Pinwheel.'

"Only you and I and a few others know my true name now. I don't think I ever told HIM. My nurse, the old woman who took care of me until I could take care of myself, felt I should know my own name, so she told me it, and then told me I should never mention it to anyone else, because it was a name that could bring misfortune."

She laughed mirthlessly. "But right about now I think my cup of misfortune is pretty well full, so I guess a bit more won't hurt."

"Tsu..." Iruka tried to interrupt, but she kept on right over him, as though now that she had opened the floodgates on her experience it all had to pour out.

"So we were almost at the border, and I was enjoying myself, even though he really didn't say much the whole time. But then he never did really talk to me. Anyway, I see some travelers coming the other way, but other than make my usual assessment and finding nothing out of the ordinary I don't think anything of it until my father stops and steps aside.

"Then I hear something behind me, and to the side. I drop my pack and go for my fans. But my father, he shoves me to the ground, and starts running up the path. The Travelers who had been approaching us were already gone. Lit out when they saw something was going wrong, I guess.

"I didn't know what they really were, then. It took me a second to recover my balance, and by then it was too late. Someone had a hold of me, my arms pinned to my sides. I struggled, and managed to turn just enough...

"They were ANBU. OUR ninja. I couldn't understand why they were there, why they were holding me, what was happening. I saw two more go after my father. That's when I realized that they were after him. I fought the one that was holding me. I kicked, I bit..."

Iruka watched as her face contorted. She seemed to have even forgotten that he was there, caught up in her tale, reliving it again.

"I saw the ANBU overtake my father. I saw him turn and fight. I'd never seen him fight like that before. I... I needed to go to him, to help him... I needed to save him. But I couldn't. The ANBU...the ANBU holding me..."

She dropped her groceries, her hands going to her face.

"Oh! Oh, Kami! Why did it have to..." She cried through her hands, tears that she had been holding back for so long coursing down her face in a flood. "How could..."

Iruka dropped his own bag, reaching for her.

She came back to herself, slapping his hands away, her eyes feral for one wild moment.

Iruka stepped back. No touching, apparently. She calmed slightly as he stooped and tried to gather up some of their scattered produce. He set the bags upright, but left them on the ground by his feet.

"I guess he decided that I would harm myself if I struggled any more. I guess... He hit me. He HIT me. Hard enough that the next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital the next evening, and they told me that my father was dead."

"I couldn't protect him, Iruka-kun."

"Tsu, it wasn't..."

"I wouldn't listen to anything else they said. Maybe I should have, but I just couldn't. Nothing would register. All I knew was that my father was dead. I escaped the hospital that night. I went to the..." She stopped, then seemed to decide something. "When I was young, I met a boy. We made a place in the forest for ourselves."

He suddenly realized what, and who she was speaking of. He remembered the strange boy who had always seemed to be in Tsu's shadow. Though perhaps boy was not the right word, since he had been no older at the time.

"I went there. He was all I had left. I had to get to him." Her tears were still flowing, but now her face was bitter, oh, so bitter that she did not even look like someone he even knew for a long moment. "He was waiting there for me. I... The moment his arms went around me, I knew."

"Tenzou was one of the ANBU." He whispered.

"He was the one who held me and kept me from my father." She went on as though she hadn't heard him, as though she couldn't see the shock on his face. This was one thing he hadn't heard, not even in rumors.

"I think I went a little crazy then." She ran her palms over her face, and her eyes were red-rimmed but dry when she looked up again. "But I broke things off with Shoufuu-kun. I won't repeat all the things I said to him that day, but you can probably get the idea.

"And all he could say to me was that it was on orders. That he had done what he had in order to keep me safe. I wouldn't have any of it. I walked away from him, and there, finally. I...can't really remember anything after that. That's why I say I went a little crazy."

Iruka, like Tsu earlier, could think of nothing to say.

"My apartment used to be full of houseplants, most of them presents from Shoufuu-kun."

Iruka stared at her, wide-eyed.

"When I came to myself, I was sitting in my apartment. My students were there. And I was surrounded by dirt and broken pots. If Taihei hadn't of done what he had, I'm not sure if I would have made it back."

"Back?"

"From that place I was lost. I wonder sometimes, if I should have stayed there. Maybe it would have been better for everyone. Staying in the dark, not feeling, not hurting, not remembering. Not knowing how alone I was... Not feeling him out there without being near him...pulling at me, calling me..."

"Tsu!"

She looked up and found Iruka right in front of her. He had reached out and gripped her shoulders without her even noticing.

"Tsu, you are not alone." He stared into her face, his own serious and sincere. "You are not alone, Tsu. Have you forgotten about all of us who care about you? Your friends? Your students? There are people who need you, Tsu. Weren't your students worried about you? Don't you think that's why they went and fetched you back from the darkness?"

"I didn't ask them to."

"You didn't need to."

She didn't raise her head for a moment, pulling out of his grip and walking a few steps away. He watched her.

"That was kinda melodramatic of me, ne, Iruka-kun?"

He smiled but didn't answer.

She shook her head and smiled, too, briefly, as she wiped a tear away from her cheek. "But you're right." She turned and smiled again. "You're a good friend, Iruka-kun."

He blushed and laughed self-consciously, blushing even hotter as she closed the few steps that separated them and brushed a quick kiss across his cheek. "That's for listening to a crazy lady like me."

"You're not crazy, Tsu."

"Sometimes I wonder..." She bent to retrieve her groceries. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm getting there." She handed him his bag as well. "Here you go... By the way, we kind of went off the beaten track, didn't we?"

He looked around as well. "I guess we weren't watching where we were going." When he looked back at her he saw her staring off into the wood, where a light deer track made an almost imperceptible gap in the underbrush.

"I always seem to end up here." She took a few unconscious steps in the direction of the trail, then seemed to shake herself, did a determined about-face and walked right back past the confused chuunin. "Let's go back, Ruka-chi."

"Ruka-chi..." He murmured, but she continued without noticing. "I need to get my groceries in the fridge. Coming?"

He let out an amused breath. "Sure, Tsu-chan. I'll walk you home."

Iruka watched her as they walked side by side back into the village. She was as pretty as ever, though no one would ever call her beautiful, but the air of melancholy surrounded her made her alluring. Not that he would have ever had a chance. Even from the very beginning he had known, just as they all had known, that it was Tenzou she loved, always and only Tenzou.

And it was still true.

He realized, watching her, that perhaps she wasn't too far off when she wondered if she was going mad. Being away from the other part of herself was tearing her apart inside.

And there was nothing he could do.

Really, he thought, the only one who could repair her heart was the one she had closed out of it.

"So, Ruka-chi..."

"Yes?"

"How's YOUR love life?"

"Ah...ahahaha." 


	12. Taihei's Escape

AT512

Chapter 12: Taihei's Escape

"Are you done with that yet?"

"Shut up."

"It's just that I'm getting a bit hungry."

"You want it so bad do it yourself."

"But you're so much better at this!"

Taihei grinned disingenuously at his sister as she slanted him a look full of venom from where she sat, her feet propped up on his bed, only two legs of her chair on the floor, a half-peeled apple in one hand, a wickedly sharp little knife in the other.

She turned the little knife and it caught the light from the hospital window in a very meaningful way.

"I'll be patient." He said in mock fear.

She grunted and continued peeling.

He sighed and looked out the window. He'd been awake for two days, and for most of those two days had been prodded and poked and tested in every which way he could think of. They still weren't certain that he hadn't taken any adverse effects from his experience. And until they were sure he wasn't going anywhere.

He was becoming very bored.

At least when Toride was there he could tease her to alleviate his boredom.

"Here." Toride slid a plate onto his lap, a plate covered with thin, even slices of perfectly peeled apple. She'd even arranged them into a flower pattern.

He shot her an amused smile but kept any number of comments that came to mind to himself in case she decided to take them back. "Ittedakimasu!"

She grunted again, playing with the little sharp knife as she rocked alarmingly on her chair.

Finally she tucked it away and stood. "I'm bored. I'm going."

Taihei gulped down a mouthful of apple. "Don't you think you should stay? Those girls," He shuddered, "may come back today."

She snorted. "You're a ninja, you deal with them."

He sighed, poking at the remaining apple slices, and attempted to give her a pleading look. She wasn't even looking.

"Okay. I'll see you later, oneechan."

A puff of feathers poofed out from the thin slice in the pillow beside his head.

"Tori-chan. The nurses'll stop bringing me pillows if you keep doing that."

"Then stop calling me 'oneechan'." She snarled, the knife disappearing again. "I'm going." And she was out the door before Taihei could say another word.

Taihei sighed and picked a couple feathers off an apple slice before popping it into his mouth. It was going to be a very long day.

He looked at the window.

...

A murmur of voices in the hall was the only presage to the next visitor. "He can't still be sleeping." Came Iouka's voice a moment before the door slid open. She looked at the artfully mounded blankets, the few feathers floating in the air. The window was closed, but that meant nothing.

"I have to say. I know my son well enough to know he's not made out of feather pillows."

There was an exclamation from behind her and a nurse rushed through, flipping back the blankets. "He was here just a moment ago!"

"Henge."

"Oh, dear!" The nurse stood wringing her hands. "I've lost a patient!"

"Calm down, Kaori." Iouka patted her shoulder. "I should think it happens a lot. Ninja aren't the most tractable of patients."

"They're like toddlers! Big, dangerous toddlers!" Kaori moaned.

Iouka coughed. "Very like. We could never keep his father down for long, either."

"I must tell Mogusa-sensei." The nurse rushed down the hall with a loud patter of hurrying sensible shoes.

Iouka looked after her, then turned to look at the window.

...

Taihei peered around the corner of the building. No one he recognized in sight, but he really wished he could have found his normal clothes. Hospital clothing was easily recognizable and he wasn't ready to go back yet.

He leaned back against the wall and considered his options. He'd never run away from anywhere before and he found it to have a peculiarly heady feeling. Maybe there was something to be said for breaking a rule here and there.

Popping by the house for a moment to get some normal clothes was an option, but a readily discarded one. He didn't know if Toride would be there and he was certain she would take a certain evil pleasure in hauling him back to the hospital.

By his ear, if possible...

And by all the main roads she knew...

While talking every step about how he had run away from the hospital, then did something stupid like coming home to get his clothes.

...

That one was out.

He considered further.

He wasn't particularly hungry and didn't really have anywhere he needed to go. It wasn't as though he didn't intend to go back at SOME point, but he wanted to enjoy this freedom while it lasted.

He looked around the corner again, then back in the other direction. Trees and sunshine that way. Maybe a nice walk with no one around was just the ticket. He stretched, feeling just the slightest twinge in his back. Nothing he couldn't handle.

That decided, Taihei walked out into the forest.

...

It didn't take him long to find a thin deer track that led into the deep woods. It was a nice path with few obstacles and a clear view between the trees. A clear view was good, particularly as he had not been able to procure any weapons before he left.

But the presence of the track puzzled him a bit. It seemed, now that he was actually walking it, to be rather straighter than an animal track tended to be. He also saw no animal prints in the softer soil along the edges. This was perhaps a human-made trail, which thought peaked his curiosity as to what lay at the other end.

...

"He'll come back when he gets tired." Toride shrugged, busy feeding bits of peanut to Omai, who perched on her shoulder awaiting each new morsel.

"B-but..."

"I'm sorry you had to come and find him gone, Ibitsu-chan." Iouka said. She looked over the girl's shoulder and smiled at someone passing by.

He stopped and made his way over. He had a tawny mane of hair and equally golden eyes. His face was unremarkably handsome with a cross-shaped scar across his chin. Toride looked unimpressed by this intruder into their little circle.

"Good morning Iouka-senpai."

"Good morning, Kokushi-kun." Her fingers twitched at her side and they shared a grin.

"Is someone sick?" He asked innocently, looking up at the hospital building looming above them.

"That is up for debate, Kokushi-kun." He quirked an eyebrow. "Let me introduce the girls," she continued. "This is my daughter, Toride."

He smiled at her. "You've become a very lovely young woman, Toride-chan."

Toride's eyes became wide, then narrowed down into slits. Iouka casually stepped between her daughter and the ANBU, who looked as though he got the impression he had said something unpardonable, perhaps several unpardonable somethings.

To his credit he didn't even take a step back.

Iouka discreetly rapped her daughter on top of her head with one knuckle. Toride looked up at her, saw the message in her eyes and reduced to a lower simmer immediately. In some ways Taihei really took after his mother.

As though nothing untoward had happened, Iouka continued. "And this is Ibitsu, my children's teammate."

"Pleased to meet you." Ibitsu squeaked with a formal bow.

"Girls, this is Gatsuri Kokushi, we used to work together."

Toride's annoyed gaze snapped from her mother to the man, turning calculating.

"It seems as though my son got bored with his hospital stay and decided to take a holiday."

Kokushi chuckled. "I remember when Sakuma-senpai did that. Like father like son?"

"In some ways," She smiled as Toride bristled, as she always did when someone talked about her father.

"We're going to find him now." Toride snapped, "Come on, Ibitsu." She tugged the astonished girl away.

Kokushi and Iouka watched them go.

"Was I intruding?" He asked.

"She's always like that, Kokushi-kun." She sighed. "I suppose we should find him."

He hesitated. "Shall I... would you mind if I came along?" He looked at her from the corners of his eyes, a slight flush along his cheekbones.

She looked up at him and smiled slowly. "I would like that."

...

Taihei stood puzzling at the end of the trail. It seemed like there SHOULD be something in the clearing that spread before him, but it was almost as though someone had set a genjutsu on the place that said 'don't notice, nothing here'. His curiosity piqued and he took a few steps forward. He held up a hand, trying to feel the edges of the jutsu.

Almost immediately came a most peculiar sensation, as though he were pulling something invisible into his skin. The world became hazy for a second before snapping back into clarity. He wavered, his hand going to his back, which had begun to ache.

When he regained his balance he could suddenly see what had before been hidden. In the middle of the clearing was a tree, the likes of which he had never seen before.

It was a house, it was a tree. It was both and neither at the same time. He approached it cautiously but there seemed to be no one in residence. A flock of birds took flight from the branches as he came closer, setting up a great cacophony of disturbed feathers.

Definitely abandoned. Probably for months.

He stopped several yards away, looking up at the blank window-holes. He did not want to go any closer. For some reason he got the feeling that this was a private place, and he shouldn't intrude any more than he already had.

Taihei looked up, noting the position of the sun. He really should be heading back. He took one more long look at the tree house standing abandoned in the middle of the clearing, then turned on his heel and made his way back out to the trail he had followed to get there.

As soon as he passed the place where he sensed the barrier he looked back again, and was obscurely relieved to see that the place seemed to have disappeared once again. It hadn't really felt right to disturb it, and he would keep this secret for whoever it was that wanted to keep it private.

Taihei was good at keeping secrets.

...

"He came this way." Ibitsu announced.

"What the heck is out here?" Toride snarled, looking around at the surrounding woods.

Her mother approached, the ninja she had picked up in the village trailing a few steps behind. "Nothing to my knowledge. Kokushi-kun?"

He shook his head. "Just forest."

Ibitsu's brow furrowed. "But it seems like someone used this path often in the past." She rubbed a patch of forehead above her eye-patch. "Very often. Someone...not ill, but in pain. Probably from the hospital."

Kokushi looked at her, his golden eyes brighter with impressed curiosity. "You can tell all that?"

She blushed and examined the dirt of the path, "When it's the same person over periods of time the impression they leave behind becomes clearer."

"Can you actually see what they looked like?" He pressed, his eyes seeming to shine even brighter now.

"Um, maybe." Ibitsu flushed red.

Toride glared at the intruder, feeling peculiarly moved to defend Ibitsu from this prodding. The sheer unfamiliarity of this sensation kept her silent. She looked at Iouka, but the woman was silent, simply watching the two with her arms crossed. She noticed her daughter's scrutiny and quirked an eyebrow.

"If I take my eyepatch off, probably."

"Is it like a limiter?" He asked, his eyes sharpening.

"The color of the glass..."

"So the strength of your gift deviates in each eye?"

She nodded, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry."

"Eh?" Kokushi looked taken aback. "Why? That's like apologizing for not having 20/20 vision, or being left-handed instead of right."

Iouka smiled at the grateful look on Ibitsu's face as she looked up at the man.

Ibitsu fumbled at her eye-patch, obviously wanting to please Kokushi with the demonstration he desired. She closed both eyes for a moment, then opened the left, scanning the path quickly. Then she replaced the eye-patch. "It was a boy, dressed in hospital clothes like Taihei is wearing. He had brown hair, spiky. Very dark eyes with dark rims, but his skin was very pale, as though he didn't get out in the sun very often, his pain was something, alien, like his body was his but not really his." She looked confused, he brow furrowed as she related this. "Later his skin was darker, and he wore the clothes of a chuunin. The most recent time he came through here he was...he was very sad about something. Something he had had to do. He had to hurt someone he loved very much... a woman... he..."

Iouka held up a hand. Ibitsu looked at her, startled, as Iouka shared a sober look with Kokushi. "Thank you, Ibitsu." She said quietly. "That was very impressive."

"Do you know him, honored mother?"

She was silent for a long moment. "I think I do, Ibitsu."

Kokushi nodded. "Very impressive, Ibitsu."

Toride looked very annoyed at having been left out of this exchange. "Are we going to find my brother or not!"

"Of course, Toride-chan. Let us continue."

Toride snorted and tugged Ibitsu along once again, outdistancing the adults.

"That was uncanny." Kokushi muttered.

"Yes," She looked at him as they walked. "But she doesn't have the temperament, Kokushi-kun."

He eyed her stubbornly. "With the right training..."

She shook her head. "I've observed these children very closely, my children since birth, Ibitsu since she came into our circle."

"And you don't think she'd make a good ANBU. It's a waste with a talent like that."

"I'm sure we can find a use for it outside the organization."

"What of the other two?"

"My daughter..." she shook her head. "She needs to be able to go her own way. Her temperament is just as unsuitable but in a different way. My son..." she paused, looking up the path. "He is a lot like me. I think he knows that. Ever since he was very little I think he knew what path he wanted. And I've worked to help him on that path."

"You've been grooming him?"

"He will make a splendid ANBU." She smiled at the man beside her, her blue eyes slightly sad. "I know he will be."

Kokushi met her gaze, then nodded. "We will make sure to keep an eye on him." He cleared his throat. "If you would permit, I would like to spend some time with the boy in an unofficial way. It would be better for me to do it than a stranger, right?"

"It won't take him long to realize."

"Another thing that will be useful to observe." They walked beside each other, keeping an eye on their surroundings and the genin walking several yards before them. "Is this all right, Iouka-senpai? Will you be all right?"

"I've been ready for this for years, Kokushi-kun." She reached out and squeezed his hand, making him blush. "I'm glad I had him for as long as I did, and for as much time as I will be able to have in the future."

"Iouka-senpai..."

"Besides, you'll be around more, ne, Kokushi-kun?"

He blushed again. "I hope so, Iouka-senpai."

...

Taihei meanwhile, was sauntering back along the path he had taken to the clearing when he caught sight of his search party coming towards him. He sighed a bit, then put up his hand and waved with a grin.

They didn't seem to notice.

His smile slipped slightly, and he put his hand down. Maybe they were more angry with him than he thought they would be. He slowed his steps as they approached. And stopped as they came towards him.

"Heh, sorry. Did I make you worry?"

They continued past.

Now Taihei was worried. He saw his mother and a ninja he didn't recognize coming towards him now. He waved at them, "Okaasan, I didn't realize..." He had to dart out of the way as they almost ran him down. He stared after them, then came up, walking beside his mother and trying to get her attention. She looked around as he caught her sleeve, but apparently seemed to dismiss the pull as having caught it on a branch.

They came to the clearing, Taihei growing more and more alarmed with every step. "Okaasan! Okaasan! Can't you see me?"

Ibitsu made a distressed noise, drawing his attention to her. "Honored mother!" She called. "The trails disappeared. I don't see Taihei's energy trail anywhere! Or the other one, either!"

They didn't seem to notice the clearing.

They didn't notice.

As they hadn't noticed him.

Oh...shit. 


	13. Sensei's Scare

Chapter 13: Sensei's Scare

Taihei had considered, once or twice, that having the power of invisibility would be pretty cool. He would be able to just sneak into enemy bases and out again, he could observe clandestine operations, he could possibly get into that mysterious section of the bookstore that seemed to be barred to anyone under eighteen. And he could imagine a whole lot of other interesting things he could try. At any rate he had thought it would be useful…useful and cool.

Of course, this power, when he had imagined it, included an 'off' option. The fact that it didn't seem to was… very un-cool.

"Kai." He said rather listlessly, mentally counting it off as having been the 42nd time he had tried to release the strange shield which he seemed to have unintentionally absorbed into himself. And then he absently tried to disrupt his chakra flow. This again also didn't work as he trailed after the group who was searching for him.

Ibitsu was beside herself, but overall no one else seemed to be terribly worried.

Well, he was getting a little worried, admittedly.

The young ninja picked up his pace and fell in beside his sister. Well, as long as she couldn't hear him anyway, perhaps he could have a little fun.

"So, Tori-chan… remember when mother tied your hair with pink bows when you were sleeping and then you didn't bother to look in the mirror before ninja class? Well, Komi-kun told me that he thought you looked cute and…"

Toride, meanwhile, was wondering why she was unexpectedly struck with the sudden urge to kill one of her old classmates. She racked her brain, trying to think of what Komi had ever done that would make her angry…well, angrier than usual, anyway.

Her rage grew as they walked along the forest path, confusing her and making her unexpected rage grow even more. It was almost as though someone who knew her very well was whispering things that she'd rather they DIDN'T know in her ear.

"Ano…Toride-san?"

"What!?" She snapped, looking around and finally focusing on her cowering team-mate.

"You…um…your kunai…"

Toride looked down and found that somehow her kunai had become clenched in her trembling fist.

"No stabbing, dear." Her mother called from behind her.

She stared at her fist. Her brows contracted. Her eyes narrowed. "He's here."

"W-what?" Ibitsu quavered.

"I don't know how, but he's here!"

"Are you feeling quite well, Toride-chan?" Iouka glanced around, seeing no sign of her son, even as Taihei waved almost cheerfully from beside his sister, a rather evil grin on his face.

"He's pi…" Toride glanced at her mother. "He's…it's like I can almost hear him. He's teasing me. I know he IS! Don't look at me like I'm crazy! I'm not crazy! Taihei, shut up!" She swept her kunai through the air where Taihei was standing, and he dodged, still grinning.

Oh, yes. This was working, and he was quite enjoying himself. "Hopples-san…" He whispered in her ear, maneuvering between swings.

"Your face is getting really red!" Called Ibitsu as she retreated a safe distance from Toride, who was flailing about with her kunai and determinedly NOT thinking about pink stuffed bunny rabbits.

Kokushi exchanged a glance with Iouka and in a flash was behind Toride, hooking his arms under hers and restraining her from actually finding targets.

This, of course, did not serve to make Toride any happier. She snarled, struggling against the ANBU's grip.

"Let's get back to the village quickly." Iouka said. And they started back down the path, Toride's howls of rage preceding them.

"We've reached vein-throbbing level!" Ibitsu squeaked as she ran after them, at a respectable distance of course.

--

Some sort of disturbance seemed to be coming down the street. Tsu could see people leaping back, or staring in astonishment, but she couldn't quite see who it was who was causing it.

But a moment later she could hear it.

"TAIIIHEEIII! I KILL YOU!"

She dropped the magazine she had been pretending to read and pushed her way through the crowd.

When had she ever thought that teaching would not be a mortifying experience? But Toride was her student, and she supposed that no matter how much she wished otherwise she would have to at least SEE why Toride was shrieking that she would kill her brother at the top of her lungs in the middle of the day in the middle of a crowded street.

"What's going…" She squeezed through the last rank, "…on here?"

"Tsu-sensei!" Ibitsu practically threw herself at her sensei. The young genin clung to her and stared up with wavery eyes.

"So cute…" Tsu thought. "What is it, Ibitsu?" She actually said.

"Tsu-sensei! Toride-san's gone insane!"

"Insane?" Tsu paused. "Um… You mean more than usual?"

"Yes!"

"Whoa." Tsu shook her head. "I mean, what makes you say that Toride-kun's gone insane?"

"She keeps saying that she hears Taihei, but Taihei's not here!"

"That…" Tsu looked over at the group, which had paused. Toride flailed in the grip of a ninja that Tsu found vaguely familiar, Iouka was looking a bit worried, and even more embarrassed. And… "Ibitsu-chan. Taihei's right there."

"Where?!" Ibitsu's head whipped around. "Where?!"

"Right there, next to Toride-kun."

The boy in question must have felt her sudden attention. He looked at his teacher, a startled and slightly shamefaced smile on his face.

"Ah, you can see me, sensei." He laughed, backing away from his sister. "Funny, that."

"Just what have you been up to, Taihei-kun?" Tsu asked sternly.

"Honored mother, it's catching!" Ibitsu wailed.

Iouka shot the girl a confused glance.

"Well, sensei, it seems I absorbed some sort of jutsu a little while ago. They can't see me. I've been trying to get their attention."

"Seems you've gotten Toride-kun's." Tsu said sternly, crossing her arms.

"Ah-hahaha. I was trying anything I could think of."

"So you decided to tease your sister…"

"Kazaguruma-san?" Iouka asked. "What's going on?"

"Ah, good morning Yamanami-san. I'm trying to find out."

"Before you go back to that, can you confirm something for me?"

"Certainly."

"Is Toride actually hearing her brother?"

"Yes." Tsu confirmed.

"Ah." Iouka rubbed a hand over her forehead. "Thank you."

"Anyway…"

"It was in the woods to the east of here." Taihei said. "I was going for a walk."

"Against Doctor's orders…"

"And found a clearing." He looked at his sensei piercingly. "With a concealing jutsu on it."

Tsu could feel her ears heating, though she fought to keep her expression neutral.

"Sensei, I understand if you don't want to say anything about that place, and the others couldn't see it, but they're going to wonder if I tell them what happened."

"And the medi-nins were worried that something like this would happen which is WHY they ordered you to stay in the hospital." Tsu said in a strained neutral voice.

"It was a nice place."

Tsu was silent for a minute. "Kai."

Taihei felt his ears pop.

"Taihei-san!" Ibitsu crashed into him, knocking him to the ground.

"I see I have reappeared." He grinned, patting his team-mate comfortingly as they sat in the dirt in the middle of the road in front of a small crowd of curious onlookers.

"TAIHEI!" Toride screamed, her voice reaching such decibels that it set dogs howling up and down the street.

Kokushi tightened his grip, but a moment later his eyes watered in astonishment and sudden pain. He stared after the girl charging away from him then down at his empty hands. Then the ANBU quietly folded into a heap in the middle of the road wondering HOW such a small girl could have one; such flexibility and two; such a very powerful kick. In spite of himself he was a bit impressed for a moment.

Then everything sort of faded into a white haze in which it was difficult to think of anything at all.

Except pain.

"Ow…"

"Kokushi-kun? Kokushi-kun? Are you all right?"

He managed to make a sort of gurgle, and managed to scrounge enough conscious thought to push the pain away. He was an ANBU after all, and this was very undignified. But still, ow…

He squeezed his teary eyes open just enough to see Iouka-senpai's blurry face hovering above him. "Be all right… just a moment." He groaned. He focused his attention a bit away where the sounds of battle were growing.

Toride was fierce, he had to give her that, as the appreciative audience moved back until they were pressed against the shops on either side.

Kokushi mustered up the strength to get to his knees, and after another moment was on his feet.

"I really do apologize, Kokushi-kun." Iouka was saying. "Is everything, um…damaged?"

He hoped she wasn't laughing, if she was laughing he was just going to go off and kill himself. But he couldn't bring himself to look over at her and find out.

"Nothing permanent." He managed shortly. He focused on Iouka's children, glad to have an excuse to draw attention away from possible injury to his…delicate place. "Should we be attempting to stop them, Iouka-senpai?"

Now she did sound amused, if a bit irritated. "Better not to until Toride-chan gets this out of her system. I would rather like to find our home in one piece in the morning."

"I should hope that it won't come to that." Tsu commented.

Kokushi looked at her in horror, having forgotten that she had been standing nearby and, likely, had observed everything up to this moment. He wondered if they would find it amiss if he just vanished, here and now, and got himself assigned to some distant outpost for a while. It was beginning to look like a welcoming prospect.

She was, almost too ostensibly, focused on the cloud of dust being raised in the middle of the street. A moment later, a small pale shadow emerged and wobbled breathlessly up to her sensei. "I think it's best if I sit this out…maybe…" She panted as she sank down at Tsu's feet.

"Bad in there, Ibitsu-chan?" Tsu asked kindly.

Ibitsu stared off into space for a moment. Then she shook her head, not as if she didn't know, but more that she wasn't sure what was a strong enough term.

Tsu nodded and took out her red fan. "If I may Yamanami-san?"

Iouka nodded and Tsu did a complicated gesture with her wrist, snapping open the fan and snapping it shut again quickly. As she did so an isolated breeze kicked up in the area directly in front of her, rising directly up in a circular motion, spreading slowly into a disc, then settling over the dust filled area before the audience. In an action disorienting to the eye the air smashed down, taking the dust with it.

"Nice." Kokushi commented.

"Why, thank you." Tsu smiled briefly, flipping her fan back into its holster. Then she looked at the scene revealed before her and all the blood drained from her face. "Oh! Oh, Kami-sama! Toride, stop! Stop NOW!"

For Toride had managed to trap her brother in one of her force-fields. Not only that, but she was shrinking it slowly, so that Taihei was practically curled in a ball, his hands tucked firmly under his arms. Obviously he had understood the danger he was in just as quickly as Tsu had. His eyes, what Tsu could see of them through the swirling chakra field, were terrified.

Tsu did not believe for a moment that Toride would intentionally kill her brother. Toride would never forgive herself if such a thing happened when she was merely trying to give him a scare.

Tsu walked slowly toward the girl, keeping her body language as non-threatening as possible now that her initial horror had tempered into a steadily simmering fear.

She spoke in a low, slow voice. "Let him go, Toride-kun. Let him go. You've made your point." Toride didn't answer.

She heard Iouka ask something anxiously behind her, but couldn't risk taking her attention away from the girl to answer. A moment later she deliberately blanked everything out of her mind except for Toride and her twin.

"Let him go. Please, Toride-kun. This is enough."

"Not enough," the girl ground out from between clenched teeth.

"Toride, listen to me." 'Gently, gently.' She told herself, as the field grew a little smaller. "If you keep this up, it will really hurt him. I'm sure you don't want that, Toride-kun. Now just let it loose. Carefully, now."

Toride's furious eyes turned to her teacher's face, and what she saw there made her suddenly afraid. But her tide of anger had not yet receded. Tsu could see her battling herself, her face tight and twisted.

"It's okay, Toride-kun… Just let him go now." Tsu stood there, her whole posture begging.

Toride's anger eased a little more, and the sphere encasing her brother widened a bit. He wobbled, but did not put out his hands to catch his balance.

"It's okay." Tsu repeated, soft, soothing even as her heart threatened to leap out her throat. No one should have to see someone they love die. No one should even FEEL responsible for it. Her throat tightened, sending her heart back down into her stomach as tears began to fight her control and rise in her eyes. "Please, Toride-kun. I don't want this to happen to either of you. I don't…" Her voice caught in her throat.

The bubble vanished, dropping Taihei to the road as Toride stared at her sensei, questioning and for once, not angry at all.

Tsu ran to Taihei, only now daring to draw a deep breath.

He was still curled as he had been when Toride had held him, and when Tsu touched him she could feel his arms trembling with the effort it had taken to keep his hands firmly tucked away. His whole body was so tensed that she did not think he could relax even had he wanted to.

"Taihei, it's gone now." She said soothingly, kneeling beside the boy. She could feel other presences approaching and turned to warn them off before realizing that it was Ibitsu and the boy's mother.

"What happened!?" Iouka demanded. "All of a sudden, your face…" She crouched down and took her son in her arms.

Perhaps it was the scent of her, or the familiar feel of her soft arms, arms that had kept him safe since he was little, but Taihai relaxed, slowly uncurling though helpless tremors still wracked his body.

Tsu bit her lip, turning slightly away and rummaging through her pack. Finally she came up with what she sought, and she quickly unrolled a length of bandage between her hands.

"Give me your hand, Taihei." She said.

He lifted his head from his mother's chest, his eyes focusing for the first time since he had been released. His eyes found his teacher's, and the understanding there. With a shaky nod he held out his hand and she quickly and expertly wrapped his fingers, first one hand, then the other. When she had bitten off the end of the last bandage he seemed to relax the rest of the way and almost before he could smile his thanks he had fallen asleep.

Iouka looked at Tsu, then. "How much danger was he in?" Tsu could see how hard she fought to keep her voice steady.

Tsu hesitated, and closed her eyes in one long blink before replying. "More than I like to think." She turned her head and looked at Kokushi, who had come closer. "Will you take him? He needs to be back in the hospital." She looked around, but the crowd had already begun to dissipate now that the show was over. "He'd rather you take him." She added softly.

Kokushi nodded, stooping down and taking the sleeping boy on his back. Ibitsu, who had been keeping back of the two women, not quite understanding what was going on, was beside him in a flash.

"I'll…I'll help you steady him. If that's okay?"

Kokushi looked down at her and smiled, nodding. She hesitantly took one of Taihei's bandaged hands and the three set off.

Tsu and Iouka stood a moment longer, letting out a huge sigh in unison. Iouka glanced over her shoulder. "Come along Toride-chan."

But Toride did not 'come along'. She just stood there in the spot where she had been when the fight ended, in the emptying street, and watched them leave.


	14. Sensei's Explosion

AT 5: Chapter 14: Sensei's Explosion

*boom*

*Boom*

Tsu sighed.

*KA-boom*

…And sighed again. At least the volume and the frequency of the explosions let her know that she was getting closer. She took another turn through the winding paths of the forest just outside Konoha, grateful, at least, that Toride had decided to vent her frustrations away from any human habitations.

*KA-BOOM*

Tsu winced. That sounded like it had been right by her ear. She glanced over. Well, not quite _right_ by her ear, but pretty darned close. She pulled out her red fan and blew some of the dust away, still moving cautiously forward into ground zero. Or towards ground zero. Ground zero was Toride. And from the way she glared at her sensei through the dust clouds, Tsu believed that that last explosion was the girl's way of saying 'go away'.

Toride was never one for subtlety.

But then Tsu was never one for responding well to threats, either.

She fought down her irritation, reminding herself why she was there. She could see another globe of chakra wobbling on Toride's finger. She sighed again.

"Go ahead and toss it, Toride-kun. Then we need to talk." She said, settling down on the tree that had just crashed down behind her, still lazily fanning smoke away with her red fan.

Toride snarled and spun, lobbing the ball into the woods at the opposite end of the new clearing.

*ka-boom*

Tsu hid a smile behind her fan. The girl was already losing steam.

"Don't wanna talk." The girl snarled some more, as she turned back around to face her sensei once again.

"All right, then." Tsu said agreeably, and proceeded to continue sitting on the tree fanning herself.

"Go 'way." Toride growled.

Tsu nodded, but continued not to move.

"Go away! I don't want to talk!" Toride shrieked, another chakra ball beginning to appear in her hand. It fizzled out, and she stared at her palm in annoyance.

"By my calculations you've used too much chakra today." Tsu said pleasantly with a pointed look at the felled trees. The sight gave her a smidgen of satisfaction but she wouldn't allow it to show in her expression.

Toride curled her lip at her sensei and some kunai appeared in her hands.

"Will you attack me, Yamanami Toride?" Tsu asked, her voice gaining a bit of steel while still remaining pleasant. "I wouldn't advise it."

"What do you want?!"

"To talk. I've already told you that." Tsu shrugged, snapping her fan closed and replacing it in its holster. "I'm not here to drag you back, or anything else."

"Talk." Toride sniffed.

"Yes, rather like we're doing now, but hopefully making more progress than this." Tsu smiled tightly. "Come sit, Toride-kun." She sat back down and patted the trunk beside her. She raised her eyebrows invitingly.

Toride looked torn between flouting her sensei's request and taking a break from wreaking destruction on the surroundings, or blowing something else up. Finally she sheathed her kunai, grumbling, and walked to her teacher.

Tsu patted her makeshift bench again, but Toride flopped to the ground with a grunt instead, almost but not quite facing her sensei.

"So go ahead and talk." She muttered ungraciously.

Tsu decided a little bluntness was needed. "Taihei's fine. The medics say he probably won't have any lasting effects from his experiences today. They've concluded that when he interrupted Baikan's jutsu he absorbed some of what it does, which is take the abilities of other people. It allowed her to take appearances too, but so far there is no evidence that it affected him in that way. They're not sure if anything else will result. He's resting from his trauma so they'll have to test it later. When he touched one of the jutsu a ninja…" She looked away, then back in the split of a second, "Or more than one ninja placed in the forest to protect a site he absorbed that jutsu. It rendered him invisible. If he had touched the chakra bubble you had him in…I don't think the results would have been as innocuous."

Toride hmphed, looking away, but the tension in her hands as she tugged at the scarf around her neck told Tsu that she was paying attention and that she was thinking. Tsu waited.

"He shouldn't a done what he did, he made me do that to him." Toride mumbled, her voice gaining speed and fury. "It was all his fault. He didn't tell me what was going on! Just made me madder and madder…and…"

"I agree he does take some blame in what happened. His methods…how should I say it…weren't well thought out." Tsu agreed that much. Then her voice turned low and serious. "But you lost your temper. You put him in that danger."

"It's not my fa…"

Tsu cut her off with an angry hand. "And it's also partially my fault. I should have stopped you both when it started. But I didn't seriously think you would _go so far_. You're young and I have made allowances for your temper and your talents, just as I do for Taihei and Ibitsu, but one of the things a ninja must learn is _control._"

Tsu stood and paced, just a few steps, back and forth. "Again, partially my fault. Perhaps I've made too many allowances. Perhaps I'm not ready to be a sensei to a team." She stopped and in a split second was towering over the girl still sitting on the ground. "But that was the mission given to me, and I've worked to the best of my ability to form you into useful members of our society. But look around you. This destruction is unacceptable."

Toride was silent, staring up at her. Her eyes narrowed. "You wanted to blow up a tree, too."

"What?" Tsu was momentarily derailed.

"That night we had to drag you home. You wanted to blow up some trees." Toride grumbled. "You wanted my exploding tags."

Tsu didn't remember this at all. But then she didn't really remember anything after her seventh drink, or maybe it was her twelfth. She certainly didn't remember how she had gotten home that night. She let out a long breath. Give and take.

"You're right. I lost control and should have known better." She conceded. "And I can admit that." She squatted down beside Toride. "I can admit that. Can you?"

Toride looked away. "Why did you lose control?"

"You know why, I lost my father."

"Bullshit."

"Excuse me?" the steel was back in Tsu's voice.

"What did you call your father?"

"Otousan, of course."

"Not Shoufuu-kun?" Toride asked casually, too casually.

Tsu reeled back so hard she lost her balance and landed on her behind in the dirt. "How do you know that name?" She demanded. "No one knows that name."

"You do." Toride said, for once not sneering or being sarcastic, just genuinely curious. "You're the one who said it."

Tsu felt the name echoing in her head, over and over. She shook it, trying to make it stop.

"Sensei?"

'Shoufuu-kun…. Shoufuu-kun….How could you? Shoufuu-kun, where are you?' Kept shrieking in her mind. Louder. Louder.

"Sensei?" Now Toride was on her knees, her hands on her Tsu's shoulders. She shook her. "Sensei!"

The screaming in her head stopped. She blinked, and blinked again, for some reason her vision was blurring and her face felt wet.

"Yes? What is it Toride?" She asked brightly.

"Sensei. You're not really okay, are you?" The girl asked shakily. "You're not okay, sensei. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She sounded on the verge of tears. "I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to." Her voice broke on a sob, and Tsu gathered the girl to her. What had just happened wasn't the girl's fault. But she knew that she really wasn't the only one Toride was apologizing to.

"I know." She said softly, gently. "Taihei knows."

Toride sniffled. "I'll kill this 'Shoufuu' person for you if you want."

Tsu choked back a startled laugh. "Thank you, but I don't think that will be necessary." She stroked the girl's back while it was still safe. She didn't think this vulnerable Toride would be in existence for very long. Indeed only a moment later Toride pulled away and stood, brushing off the seat of her outfit.

Tsu did the same, taking the opportunity to pull out a handkerchief and wipe her face. When she took it away she looked at it for a moment then crumpled it in her fist. She hadn't even realized she had grabbed the handkerchief with the embroidered leaves that had been a gift. It must have been automatic.

A moment later her fist loosened. This wasn't the way. Carefully she smoothed the cloth out, folded it and placed it back in her pack. "Shall we go back, then?"

Toride defiantly dashed all remnants of moisture from her face with her sleeve then nodded. "Yeah, no telling what other stupidness he'll get up to while I'm not looking."

Tsu lifted an eyebrow at the genin and Toride had the decency to look a little chastened.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. My bad." Toride sniffed, not looking at her sensei as she brushed past.

Tsu figured that was as close to an apology as anyone would get out of the girl, so she shrugged and smiled before following.


	15. Sensei's Absent Half

AT5 Chapter 15:

Sensei's Absent Half

He crouched in the trees quietly observing all that went on below. Not the most exiting of tasks, but necessary. Truth be told, he preferred it when it wasn't exciting. Exciting usually meant that something had gone wrong, and his job was all about keeping that from happening.

He sighed silently and stretched, causing not even a leaf to rustle with his movement. He was tired. He had been gone from the village from far too long. Thankfully this mission was almost over. All the difficult work had already been done, and all that was left was to observe the aftermath, or lack thereof.

Lack thereof was what seemed to be happening.

He considered that a success.

He smiled behind his mask. All had gone well, and the people of this small fire village were safe. And without even knowing that they had been in danger.

He saw a couple of small children run beneath him, laughing and playing, all unaware of their hidden observer. Such things, he considered, made the months away worth it.

But now. Now it was time to go back.

Longing and reluctance warred within him.

This would be the first time he would go back and there would be no one to be happy to greet him. No one to tell his stories and worries to. He had lost the only one who would have done those things. And in doing so he had lost his best friend and love. He couldn't think how he could ever regain her trust again, now that he'd so thoroughly broken it.

His head lifted at the soft sound of rustling bushes beneath him.

He took a glance around before dropping unobserved into the undergrowth.

"Everything look good, Tenzou-senpai?" His partner ANBU asked.

He nodded, indicating that they should distance themselves before speaking further. His companion bobbed his head in agreement and they both vanished with a quiet pop.

The two ANBU reappeared on a cliff not too far away. It was their agreed meeting spot during the operation, giving them a good overview of the valley while not being likely to be observed, due to its remoteness and screening trees.

Tenzou sighed and insinuated a fingertip under his mask to scratch at a persistent itch on his chin.

"Observations, senpai?"

"Hmm…" His gaze, concealed by his catlike mask, turned back towards the village. "We're done here. No signs of any threat to the village remain."

His companion's foxlike mask shifted, as though he smiled behind it. "That was my observation as well." he stretched. "Ahh…It'll be good to get home. First thing I'm going to do is get a huuuuuuge bowl of ramen."

Tenzou made a non-committal sound, his masked face, of course, expressionless.

"No plans, senpai?"

"Just sleeping in my own bed, Kasui." Tenzou shrugged. "Nothing more than that."

"Ah. You dream small, senpai." Kasui nudged him with his elbow. Kasui was always like this after a mission. Almost giddy with released tension. During a mission, of course, he was all professional almost to the point that it was frightening. Even though Kasui was his junior Tenzou had learned quite a bit from working with him.

He just had to remember not to let his companion tell ghost stories ever again. It was way too scary. Even for a ninja.

He shrugged again, muttering. "Better than admitting to none at all, I suppose." Mostly to himself.

"Right." Kasui agreed. "So, shall we go take your house down and go?"

Tenzou turned halfway to meet his companion's gaze and smiled behind his mask. "That's not a house, that's a shack. Remind me to show you sometime what a house really should look like."

"I'll definitely contract you when it comes time to settle down."

"You couldn't afford me, Kasui."

Kasui laughed.

…

Tenzou shouldered his pack and crouched, setting his hands on the ground. With a huff of effort the small cottage that he had created to house him and his companion during their stay sunk quietly back into the ground.

"Kind of seems a waste, doesn't it."

"No one would have used it. It's too out of the way. Better to send it back than let it collapse." He stood and brushed off his hands. "Shall we go?"

"Right behind you."

Tenzou nodded and jumped up into the trees.

They were still technically on a mission so neither ANBU had removed his mask, or would do so until after they made their report to the hokage.

As had become usual for Tenzou, he didn't mind at all. Time was that the mask would chafe after a while. Not physically perhaps, but in his mind. Occasionally he would long to take it off and let the breeze run across his face, let the sun warm his cheeks. But since what had happened he never seemed to want to take the mask off. It hid what he didn't want anyone to see.

He used to be a lot better at concealing his expressions. But after what had happened, after what he had done, he found he wasn't so skillful with certain emotions. Expressions would flicker across his face at inconvenient times, ones he didn't want anyone else to see.

Pain, grief, loneliness.

Those feelings, perhaps, showed on his face because he was unused to them. He was grateful to the mask for hiding them.

Before he had always known that no matter what happened, no matter how he felt, he would have someone waiting for him to dull the pain, to ease the grief, to soothe the loneliness with nothing more than a smile and a touch of her hand.

That was gone now.

He fought the urge to rub his chest over his heart, to try and rub away the stabbing pain there.

Kunai wounds he could deal with. Physical wounds were no problem at all. This pain was something completely different.

Kasui had perhaps sensed this. ANBU were good at seeking out hidden things. But his kohai had not said a word. A ninja's business was a ninja's business after all. He wouldn't pry. No matter how much Tenzou wished someone would. He needed someone to talk to. But, once again, the only one he felt he could have told his troubles to was at the root of them.

He was becoming maudlin.

How irritating. He tried to laugh at himself. It came out a trifle pained.

"Estimated arrival time, senpai?"

Tenzou paused and lay his hand against the trunk of the tree he had come to rest upon. He let his awareness sink into it. Once he was thoroughly immersed he sent it down, into the root system, and onward.

Not many people realized this, and Tenzou wasn't about to tell them, but the forest wasn't just a collection of trees, but a single entity, everything in it making up but single parts of the whole. All trees were, in essence, one tree. He let his mind race along this complicated pathway until he reached trees that were familiar to him. The ones of home.

"Two hours after sunrise on the day after tomorrow." He said, pulling his awareness back into himself. "Give or take a few minutes and allowing for any interruptions." He brushed off his hands. "And if you want to run through the nights."

"Two hours after sunrise if we run through the night?"

"Yes."

Kasui stretched his back, limbering up his arms. Tenzou got the sense that he was grinning behind his mask. "Race you!" He vanished.

Tenzou huffed out an amused laugh before chasing after his companion.

…

Tenzou left the hokage's office with the sense of a job well over. He had left Kasui off the task of reporting. The other ninja had been more than a little sore after the two nights' run and on the point of collapse. So Tenzou had sent him off to bed.

Kasui hadn't protested. They had both pushed themselves on their run and Kasui was younger, but Tenzou had more stamina. Kasui had pushed himself too hard at the beginning, and at the end Tenzou had easily overtaken him.

They had both crossed the wall into Konoha at the same moment. Kasui may have realized that Tenzou had done this on purpose but by then he had been to tired to protest. So he had limped away towards his apartment and Tenzou had made his way to the Hokage's office on his own.

Tsunade had been pleased with their results. So pleased that she had decided to give him some time off, with a remark, after he been given permission to remove his mask in her presence, that he was looking a bit peaked.

He knew better than to protest. She was still Konoha's premier healer, and Tenzou knew that she still regarded herself as such almost above, or maybe even above, her current position as hokage. If she prescribed rest, then he had damned well better rest.

He didn't want to think what she might do if he didn't.

She could be scary when she wanted to be.

And so now Tenzou found himself with a great deal of time on his hands and no idea how to spend it. He vanished from outside the hokage's office and reappeared in his small apartment.

With a sigh he opened to window to let some of the mustiness of the unused space filter out on the wind. Only after he had done this did he take off the mask and lay it on his bed. He regarded it for a moment, then, with a sigh, went to the window and held his face to the wind, let the sun, only now starting to creep in, warm his cheeks.

It didn't bring the hoped for sense of relief.

His head turned, and he pushed the curtains aside to look out towards the woods. Towards the one spot that may bring some cessation…or may make it even worse. He could not make up his mind and so he would not go. It held far too many memories anyway. Both happy and sad. All shared.

That was why he wouldn't go.

He let the curtain drop and undressed.

He was asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.

…

He knew he dreamed. He knew it immediately. But he dreamed of sweeter times, so he tried not to acknowledge it to himself.

Ah, here I am. He thought instead.

He was in a sunlit field, looking out across the grass and flowers. It felt very real, right down to the softly sent breeze and the tickle of the grass on the palms of his hands and he brushed them across it, his eyes on the teenage girl sitting opposite him.

She fairly glowed in the noon light, the hairs escaping her messy braids catching the rays of the sun and fairly glowing,. In her hands she was busy doing something with the flowers she had gathered in the field.

Every few moments she would glance up at him and smile, the warmth of the day putting a rosy glow in her cheeks and making her eyes sparkle. He reached up a hand and brushed his hand across the tattoo beneath her right eye. She giggled and pushed him off with her shoulder, her cheeks growing even rosier.

So he sat back and watched her.

Finally she straightened, whipping what she had been working on behind her back and getting to her feet. "It's done!" She announced.

He felt his eyes fill with tears but at the moment he could not know why the sound of her voice moved him so. "And what is it?" He asked, amused.

"Close your eyes and I'll let you have it."

He gave her a mock suspicious look before shutting his eyes and lifting his face expectantly. He heard her move along behind him and then felt something light settle on his spiky hair. Followed by the touch of her lips on his cheek.

"You can open your eyes now."

He opened his eyes. She was once again sitting before him, a picture of all innocence.

"Do I dare ask?"

She smiled.

He lifted what she had placed on his head and brought it before his face. "Ah, what a lovely crown." He commented, examining the flowers. "Very well-constructed." He slanted her an amused look before placing it with some ceremony back on his head.

She laughed. "You don't really have to wear it."

"Ah, but what good would it do to forfeit my crown?" He rose and bowed. "After being bestowed upon me by such a beloved woman."

She looked up at him, her face sober, but her aqua colored eyes glowing. "Beloved?" she asked sweetly.

"Definitely beloved." He offered her his hand, and she placed her own in it with all dignity, allowing herself to be drawn to her feet. He drew her closer but she started to laugh.

"I can't take you seriously with flowers in your hair." She reached up to take the wreath off, but he caught her hand and brought it to his lips. She smiled again, half in nerves, half in anticipation.

He couldn't bear to disappoint her expectations so he drew her closer and kissed her.

When he drew away her eyes were hazy. So he kissed her again, closing his eyes.

Abruptly she drew away.

When opened his eyes and looked at her her face was changed, older. Her eyes had changed as well, they were cold, filled with pain. Her hair was drawn up on the back of her head, the light had painted the reddish brown strands vanished, rain clouds covered the night sky.

She drew away another step. Staring at him, her face changing once again. He could see denial warring with realization chase across her features.

"It was you." She said, her voice low and hoarse, as though she had cried her voice away. "You were there. You kept me from him. You… You wouldn't let me save him."

"I can explain!" He cried, stepping towards her. She withdrew further, her head slowly shaking back and forth. "It was on orders. He was going to betray you. He betrayed all of us. Many died because of him!"

"He was my father!" She screamed. "My father! You wouldn't let me protect him!"

"He didn't deserve your protection." He said, low and harsh. Stop, a little voice in his head said. Stop before its too late and you lose her forever.

"That doesn't matter." She replied softly. "I trusted you. You should have warned me. You could have done something, anything, other than what you did."

"I can only ask your forgiveness, there's nothing else for me to do." He held his hands out. "Please, Tsu-chan."

She backed away again, one more step. That last step that tore them apart. She was silent for a moment as it started to rain.

"Tsu-chan." He reached out to her. "Please."

"No." She said. "No, I can't."

"Tsu-chan!"

"I…wish I could hate you, Shoufuu-kun." He breath caught on a sob, but her face was set as she looked at him one last time, then turned and walked away. He watched until he could no longer see her through the rain, his heart breaking into so many pieces.

…

Tenzou sat up in bed with a gasp.

That was all it had taken. That one night and his life was in ruins. And it was his fault, no matter how he wanted to deny it. He had thought she wouldn't listen, had done what he thought would make her safe, no matter what.

His judgment had been skewed by his love for her.

And now every time he lay his head down her presence haunted him, showing him the good times, then crushing those gentle, fragile memories with the end of it all.

Tenzou schooled his face to coolness, got up and went to get a drink of water. His mouth was dry. His head hurt.

It was no wonder that the hokage called him peaked. He hadn't gotten a full night sleep since it happened.

Maybe if he could banish her from his thoughts the dreams would go away. But he couldn't. He thought of her every moment, every hour.

He had to shake his head at himself.

Curse him for a lovesick fool but he couldn't help it, The only time he could push her from the forefront of his thoughts was on a mission, when instinct and training took over, But still she was a small presence in his mind, watching him.

If Tenzou had been a drinking man this would definitely have driven his to excess a long time ago.

He put down his empty glass and glanced over at the calendar on the wall. He couldn't remember the exact date that it had happened. It seemed like it was years ago, it seemed like it was yesterday. It all depended on how that particular day had gone.

It definitely felt like years when he thought of how he missed her. It felt like only moments when the guilt gripped him.

He bent over and gripped the edge of his sink.

He was also disappointed in himself. He was a ninja! He should be able to move bast this with no problem at all.

But the fact was that she had always been there. She had always been at his side, Even when they were apart he could feel her presence. That was gone now.

She was gone now.

He was being maudlin again.

He really hated being this way, but he couldn't think how to stop it unless he could somehow win her back.

But again, that was beyond him.

It would have been easier, he sometimes thought, if she had just told him that she hated him for what he had done. Her last words still echoed in his head. 'I wish I could hate you, Shoufuu-kun.' Maybe he couldn't release he because of that. Not that he wanted to, he still loved her.

He had a feeling that he would always love her.

He wanted her with him. He glanced down at the bed, and could almost see her shape, still there. He could almost smell her clean scent in the air. She had always had the aroma about her of clean cool air, like the wind after a storm had passed and the sun came out. He closed his eyes, breathing in the breeze that stirred his curtains. Yes, very similar.

He walked over and looked out. Still a few hours before dawn, he thought.

She may still be asleep. She would never know if he went by and just…looked in on her, made sure that she was still all right.

His mind made itself up without any conscious help from him. He pulled on a shirt and was out the door before the thought that he was going out even crossed his mind.

He had to see her.

…

There was a tree just outside her window. He sat up in the branches, looking toward it, hoping that se had forgotten to close the curtains. Though he already felt a bit of relief from just being near her he wanted, no he needed to see her.

He saw a glimpse of white moving with the wind.

He smiled, painfully. She never slept with her windows closed if she could help it. She felt too closed in without the breeze flowing in and out. It had given rise to some very chilly nights for him, but at least she had always been warm when he huddled with her beneath the blankets.

He moved a little closer, until he could just make out her sleeping from huddled beneath her blankets. As he watched she sighed and rolled over, flinging her arms across her eyes. Her face, what he could see of it, looked troubled. Her eyes had circles underneath them that could not be entirely explained away by lack of sleep.

He felt guilt clutch at his gut.

He may be giving himself too much credit but he could bet that he was the one who put such troubled lines on her face. She turned again, curling up on her side facing the window. He saw the breeze lift her tangled hair and a few lines faded, her face relaxing for an instant before tensing up again.

Her eyes fluttered open. But he was already gone before they could focus.

It wouldn't do for her too see him before she was ready, if, indeed she would ever be ready to see him again.

He could only pray that she would be, someday.

…

Tsu wasn't sure what had woken her, maybe a sound, or a scent on the wind. She rose and walked to the window, staring out at the empty night. For reasons beyond what she could explain she was all at once filled with an inexplicable sense of loss.

She shook her head at her fancies and went back to bed.


	16. Sensei's Students' Exams

AT5 Chapter 16:

Sensei's Students' Exam

Taihei straightened and stretched out tense back muscles. It had been a long couple of days. But now it was almost over. He glanced over to check out the status of his teammates.

Toride looked, as he thought she would, he noted with a small smile, utterly bored with all of the proceedings. She sat against one of the walls, looking narrow-eyed at the surrounding genin, idly paring her nails with one of her kunai. Only a few bruises on her arms attested to the ordeal they had all gone through that day.

He didn't have to look far to find Ibitsu. The small, pale girl was leaning against his shoulder. Her hair was in a spectacular mess, and there was a crack in the lens of her eyepiece but all in all she had conducted herself well.

Taihei gently smoothed back an errant lock of her hair, knowing that she wouldn't notice. Her steady, soft breathing told him that she had fallen asleep. He would let her have her rest. He had a feeling that she would need it in the time to come.

Taihei's eyes lifted to the rest of the room. It was a small, ragged, mismatched bunch. Most showed the signs of the exam they had just passed, though there were a few unscathed. Not without a sense of accomplishment, Taihei knew that he was one of those. Even with assisting his teammates the test hadn't proven too difficult. Most of those difficulties had arisen from Toride, though she would deny that to her last breath.

The other genin were quite disparate in age, from the youngest, at ten, to the oldest, who looked to be in his late twenties. Taihei and his team were in the lower range, he and Toride just having turned twelve the week before and Ibitsu at eleven. Though she would be twelve in a few months. Taihei leaned his head back against the wall, already planning a birthday present for her.

Sensei had seemed a little unsure about putting them in the exam this year. Not, he thought, because she didn't think that they were ready. But something had decided her, and for that Taihei was glad. He had felt, and still did, that even if they didn't make it this time, at least the next time they would have more of an idea of what to expect.

Taihei considered the idea of being a chuunin. It would be a good experience, he thought. Then he considered his team-mates as chuunin and had to smile ruefully. He really couldn't see it. Not that they weren't skilled, he knew that better than anyone. But Toride had a definite problem with authority. Ibitsu… She was made of sterner stuff than others thought. But he thought that had she been given the choice she would have chosen to be something other than a ninja.

He was glad to be her teammate, though.

If she had not gone to ninja school he would probably never have met her.

He still remembered the first day of school when he had seen her. She had fairly been pushed into the classroom by one of her parents. He wasn't sure which it had been since he had only seen their hand as they shoved her through the door. She had looked around, terrified at all the new faces.

And her gaze had caught his.

He smiled, remembering the little thump he had felt in that moment.

He had gone over and introduced himself, taking her to the empty seat beside him and engaging her in gentle conversation until their teacher appeared. Perhaps she had been reassured by his constant smile, and by the fact that he had been impressed at the depth of her knowledge of ninja techniques.

He had an idea that she rarely received praise of any kind, so he made sure that he did so at any opportunity. And eventually she had smiled at him, and answered his questions. The day she was finally persuaded to have a conversation with him was one of the greatest triumphs of his life.

Fortunately the teachers had noticed their interactions and had not chosen to separate them when the time had come to graduate and divide into teams. He had worried about that and had had a long talk with their last teacher.

He was very grateful to Iruka-sensei for not dismissing his concerns out of turn.

Against his shoulder Ibitsu let out a sigh and her eyes fluttered open.

"Someone's coming" She murmured. It took a moment for her to realize where she was. When she did she blushed and sat up from her place leaning against Taihei's shoulder.

He smiled at her to show her he didn't mind being used as a pillow and stood, linking his bandaged hands behind his head and stretching again.

His sister looked up at him and sheathed her kunai just as the door opened and a narrow-eyed chuunin entered. He paused, seeming to do a quick headcount before nodding and consulting a clipboard in his hands.

"Congratulations." He said in a bored tone of voice. "You've made it past the second stage."

Silence met this statement.

"Yeah. You already know that." he rubbed he back of his head, grimacing. "The third stage will take place in a month. You will be informed of the location later. So…you're free to go."

A low rumble greeted his exit and the other students filed out past the chuunin. As Taihei made to go past the chuunin tapped his arm. Obligingly Taihei stopped, sending a reassuring smile and a dismissive wave at his teammates when they shot him curious looks. "I'll meet up with you later."

Toride scowled at him but ducked her head, grabbing Ibitsu's arm and towing her along.

In a moment the only two people remaining in the room were himself and the chuunin.

"Ah…Shikamaru-san, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. You're Yamanami, right?"

"One of them." Taihei grinned.

"As long as you're the one named Taihei, then we're fine." Shikamaru quirked a half-grin at him.

"You're in luck."

"I hope you are." Shikamaru reached in one of his pockets and fished out a scroll. "Since this is sealed so only Yamanami Taihei can open it. I was instructed to give it to you."

'And felt it best that no one else saw.' Taihei completed silently. "Thank you." He said, taking the scroll.

"Good luck." Shikamaru said, and walked out.

Taihei looked down at the scroll in his hand and sighed, his face sober in a way that would have made his sister very concerned. "I guess it's time, huh."

…

He met his teammates outside the building. "Sorry, I'm late." he grinned.

"What was that all about?" Toride demanded.

"I'm under observation." Taihei smiled widely.

"Stop joking around!" She snarled. "Come on, Ibitsu. We're supposed to meet…"

"Great job on passing the first two parts, everyone." Tsu-sensei walked out of the building, smiling.

"Why were you here?" Toride demanded.

"All the teachers stay close by in case we're needed." Tsu told her. "It happens sometimes. Fortunately we weren't needed this time. So we spent the day catching up." She smiled again, a little wistfully. "It was nice."

"Well, I'm glad you had a nice time." Toride said sourly.

"I did. Thank you." Tsu ignored the sarcasm. "Are all of you well? Do we need to visit the medics?"

"A few bumps and bruises is all, sensei." Taihei told her. "And Ibitsu will need her lens fixed."

Tsu looked down at the white-haired girl. "You're very quiet, Ibitsu-chan. Are you all right?"

The girl glanced up at her sensei and nodded.

"Hmm…" Was all Tsu said before turning back to her students. "All right then. Jobs well done deserve sukiyaki."

Toride brightened up immediately. "Sukiyaki!"

"Sukiyaki tonight, intensive training starting tomorrow. The last exam is no cake- walk." Tsu warned them.

Toride huffed to show her opinion of exams in general.

"I'm glad you're confident." Tsu told her. She stepped back and looked at the three of them for a moment, glad that they'd all survived. "Let's go."

"Sukiyaki! Su-su-sukiyaki!" Toride sang as they went do the road, trailing Ibitsu and her brother behind her.

Tsu waited a beat before following, not wanting them to see the expression on her face before she could get it under control.

…

Taihei glanced at the door of the restaurant. Night was already well advanced but Toride and Tsu-sensei seemed in no mood to let their get-together end. Tsu was using their triumph as an excuse to get well soused, which worried him, but he figured that as long as he and the girls were there she wouldn't let it go too far.

She had been doing better for a while, but in the last month he had noticed that the pensive expression was back and figured that something had happened. At first he had placed the blame on the fact that they were preparing for their exam, but now he figured it had another cause.

Perhaps he had returned, that ANBU who had asked him a favor.

Taihei shrugged internally, not wanting to disturb Ibitsu, who had once again fallen asleep on his shoulder.

He needed to go.

"Toride, Tsu-sensei." He said loudly to get their attention. They looked up at him, distracted from their mostly nonsensical conversation about the travails of the second exam in the forest of death. "I'm going to take Ibitsu-chan home."

"I'm not ready to go yet." They chorused.

Taihei winced. "I'm tired too. You don't have to go yet. Tori-chan, I'll let mother know you'll be home later." He moved his head to the side to dodge the pair of metal chopsticks she flung at his head. They struck and stuck quivering in the wall at his eye level.

He ignored her snarl and shook Ibitsu gently. "Ibitsu-chan. It's time to go home."

She roused just enough to blink at him and say in a small voice. "Don't take me home, Taihei-kun." before her eyes fluttered shut again.

Taihei scowled and Toride picked up another set of chopsticks and held them before her defensively at his expression.

"My home, Ibitsu-chan." He finally said, his expression easing. She shifted and smiled a little smile but did not again awaken even as he hefted her onto his back and headed out the door. "Good night, Tori-chan, Tsu-sensei."

"Good night, Taihei-kun." Tsu called as he shut the door gently behind him.

…

Taihei deposited Ibitsu in his mother's capable hands.

"Goodness, she must have had a time." Iouka commented as she laid the girl out on their spare futon. Ibitsu didn't stir.

"It was hard on her." He agreed. "But she was indispensable."

"I'm sure she was," Iouka agreed warmly as he son stood and walked back toward the door. "You're going out again?" She asked as he pulled on his zori.

He nodded. "I've been summoned."

She looked back down at Ibitsu, gently relieving the girl of her weapons and shoes. "I see."

"You knew this was coming, didn't you ,okaasan?" He smiled gently, making it clear that he had known as well.

"I did." She agreed. "You'll be an invaluable asset, my son."

"Thank you, okaasan." He stood. "I'm going."

"Be safe." She replied.

A moment later he was gone.

Iouka let out a shaky breath. She knew she should be proud. But she also knew that in a way he would never be back.

Her hand was gentle as she smoothed Ibitsu's hair back from her forehead. "I wish I'd had just a little more time." She murmured. "Ah, well."

…

Taihei made his way with all due quickness to the meeting place outlined in the scroll. He had delayed too long and he was going to be late. He hated to be late to anything. He heaved out a breath and leaned forward, running at full tilt across the rooftops.

Perhaps he hadn't been so unscathed as he had thought, he noted as his ribs gave a twinge and he gave a muted gasp. His eyes narrowed as he reached his destination. Or at leas thwat he had thought was his destination.

"Ah." He came to a stop. "How interesting. A barren field."

He walked a few more steps and closed his eyes.

A barren field and…yes. A test.

He raised one of his securely bandaged hands and unwrapped just the tip of his index finger. Thoughtfully he backed a few steps, until he could just feel the edges of something.

With that one finger he took in just enough of the jutsu to become a part of it, and not more. This had been a hard won skill, and it had taken month for him to learn to control this unwanted and unexpected ability. It would take years more for him to be able to control it fully. But for now this was enough.

As soon as he became a part of the jutsu he could see what it had concealed.

He stepped inside and turned, touching his finger again to the jutsu and carefully releasing that tiny bit he had taken in.

He turned again absently wrapping his finger once again. It was still a pretty barren field, but now he could see something in the middle of it. A stone tunnel.

Ah. Another test. How interesting.

Taihei grinned and started down the tunnel.

…

Toride regarded Tsu-sensei with a bit of a wavery eye. It hadn't been too difficult, she was a ninja, after all, to sneak a few drinks when sensei wasn't paying attention. She wanted to see what the big deal was.

So far she wasn't sure. The stuff hadn't tasted all that good and the only side effect she had noticed was that she felt a little…happier…than was usual. She wasn't sure that she liked that. It felt too weird.

Sensei seemed happy, too, chattering away to a few people at the next table who were just as inebriated as she was. "See, this is one of my students." She was saying. "She's so cute she tries to act just like a boy."

They were laughing.

Toride felt a cloudy red haze come over her eyes. It wasn't a burning red haze, though, somehow the alcohol had made things feel a little distant. Otherwise, she thought to herself, someone just may be suffering bodily harm about then.

Toride stood.

"Ah, Toride-kun?"

"It's time to go, sensei." Toride wavered a little on her feet.

Tsu-sensei's eyes narrowed, showing she wasn't quite as drunk as she seemed. "Have you been drinking, Toride-kun?"

"We've all been drinking. Right, Tsu-chan?" One of the guys at the other table supplied cheerfully. Toride glared at him. He ignored her, and caught Tsu's arm as she went to stand up. "Aw. Don't go yet, it's still early."

Toride glared at the man's hand on sensei's arm. Toride stared at the man.

He was ignoring her. Perhaps he didn't know how bad an idea that was.

She growled under her breath, unsheathing one of her kunai and holding it in her palm. She held it under the table, waiting for just the right moment, when…

*crack*

Tsu's palm hit the man's nose in a swift upward strike.

He released her arm and clasped his hands over his nose, where blood was now freely flowing. "What'd I do?"

"Don't touch me." Tsu growled, a little after the fact. "Toride-kun, put that kunai away."

The man's companions stood, one of them tossing over the table. The sukiyaki grill in the middle fell out and smoldered on the mats. One of the men leaped after it. Tsu hit him over the head with her own table.

Toride sheathed her kunai. She wouldn't need it, she thought, cracking her knuckles. At last, she tripped one of the men shoving past her, a brawl!

…

"You're a bit late Yamanami Taihei, but not outside the time limits." The masked face inclined slightly, as if conceding something.

Taihei saluted. "It was an interesting challenge." He grinned. "Particularly the part with the snakes."

One of the masked figures turned slightly to regard another. This one stepped forward and shoved back the cowl on his robe to reveal an avian style mask. "You know why you are here. We have been observing you for a while now. Considering your mother, Yamanami Iouka and father Yamanami Sakumo were both members of our ranks we felt it prudent."

Another spoke, this one's mask leonine. "We have come to the conclusion that you would be an asset to the ANBU."

Taihei felt that this one's voice was familiar and felt fairly certain that it was his mother's friend Kokshi who spoke.

A cat faced mask stepped forward. "So we have summoned you here to offer you a place in our ranks, your further training to be conducted with the aim of becoming a full member."

The first ANBU spoke again. "Do you accept, Yamanami Taihei?"

Taihei smiled.

…


End file.
